Next Generation
by ErikW12
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke are gone, but the next generation of ninja are stepping up to fill the shoes that they left behind. *If you can get past how the paragraphs are modeled at the start, its actually a really good story.*
1. Only The Beginning

Running, running, running. The ninja ran until he could run no more. He was being chased by a squad of ninja, but he thought he had lost them. He breathed a sigh of relief, then.. "Hiyah!" ,yelled a ninja. "No! Konahamaru!" ,another said. Konohamaru kicked the ninja in the face and landed on the ground. The ninjas began to fight with kunai knives in their hand. The enemy ninja then held Konohamaru hostage and held a knife to his neck. "If any of you attack, I'll kill him!" He said. Then Konohamaru disappeared. "What?" The ninja asked confused. "_Rasengan_!" Konohamaru yelled. Konohamaru came from the sky and grinded the rasengan into the enemy ninja's face. The ninja was knocked out. "It always works!" Konohamaru exclaimed. "Good job, Konohamaru." Ebisu said. "Good, lets just get the scroll then go back to the village." Konohamaru said. "You're such an idiot. We have to take this guy into jail too." Udon said. "How are we gonna get him there?" Konohamaru asked. "You're gonna carry him." Moegi said.

When they got back to Konoha, they received their reward for finishing their mission. "Good job, Team Ebisu!" Tsunade said. She then asked the genin to leave so that she could speak to their sensei. "Ooooh! Ebisu Sensei is gonna get some!" Konohamaru said. Ebisu's face turned red with embarassment. "Konohamaru get out, before I have to hurt you! You little.." Ebisu couldn't finish because Tsunade interrupted. "Ebisu your team is very efficient and excellent. They have sucessfully completed 10 D-rank missions, 5 C-rank missions, and an A-rank mission. All three genin are more than ready to take the Chunin Exam." Tsunade said. "Is the Chunin Exam going to be here?" Ebisu asked. "No, this time it will be in the Sand Village." Tsunade answered. "When does it begin?" Ebisu asked. "In four days."Tsunade answered. Ebisu exited the Hokage's Mansion to go and tell his squad the news. He found them sitting on a bench waiting for him. "Well? Did you get some?" Konohamaru asked. "No Konohamaru I didn't get some!" Ebisu yelled. "Oooh, ouch! Rejected!" Konohamaru said. Ebisu began to strangle Konohamaru with anger. "Ebisu Sensei, what did you guys talk about? Or is it secret?" Moegi asked. Ebisu stopped strangling Konohamaru and began to explain. "Lady Tsunade informed me that she thinks you three are ready to take the Chunin Exam," Ebisu said. "Aw, yes!" They all said. ",but I don't." Ebisu added. "Awww, come on! Why Ebisu?" Konohamaru asked. "I think you all need more training." Ebisu said blankly. "Please let us take the exam Ebisu Sensei." Udon said. "No." Ebisu said. "Please?" Moegi asked. "Uh-uh." Ebisu said. "_Sexy Jutsu!" _Konohamaru said as he became a sexy lady. "Please Ebisu? For me?" Konohamaru said in his sexiest voice. Ebisu again turned red. "Um, yes of course!" Ebisu said. "Yeah!" All three of them said as they laughed.


	2. Kakashi's proposal

The next day, Team Ebisu was on its way to The Village Hidden in the Sand. They had to be given a document by Lady Tsunade, so that they could enter the Sand village. The village had become very uptight about security after the Kazekage was kidnapped. From the point that Team Ebisu left to the point that they got to Sunagakure, it took them exactly two days and seventeen hours, leaving them seven hours to rest before the exam began the next day. They were escorted by an ANBU to where they would sleep for the night. "They're so uptight! He wouldn't even let me use the bathroom." Konohamaru grumbled. "They only want to make sure we're safe, Konohamaru." Udon stated. "I don't feel safe with them around." Moegi replied. "Alright that's enough. You three need to get your rest so that you will be ready for the exam tomorrow." Ebisu said. "Ebisu sensei, can you give us a hint to what the Chunin Exam will be like." Konohamaru asked. "I'm afraid I can't." Ebisu said blankly. "Why not?" Moegi asked. "When I took the Chunin Exam, it was in the Leaf Village. I don't think that the exams will be the exact same and I don't want to give you the wrong idea." Ebisu replied. "But...,""Come on, Konohamaru we need to go to sleep." Udon interrupted. They then slept.

Back in the Leaf village, Lady Tsunade was preparing to go see the up and coming ninja from other villages. "Shizune, pack your bags so that we can leave shortly." Tsunade ordered. "Yes ma'am!" Shizune said. "Sakura!" Tsunade called. A beautiful woman with brilliant green eyes and silky pink hair put in a pony tail came into the room. "Yes, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura answered. "Go and retrieve Shikamaru, and if he tries to avoid you, tell him I'll tell his mother to kick him out of the house." Tsunade said. "Yes ma'am!" Sakura said as she left. "Same old Shikamaru." A voice said from behind Tsunade. "Kakashi," She said as she turned around. ",I was just about to send for you. I'm putting you temporarily in charge while I'm gone." She said. "Yes ma'am. There is something else I wanted to talk to you about though." Kakashi replied. "Hmm? What's that?" Tsunade said unattentively. "The other villages are beginning to find hosts for the tailed beasts again. My recent mission to find Naruto or his body was a failure, and we still don't know whether Naruto is still alive or not, but we do know he's not here. My team while on our recent mission did however locate the location where the Two-Tailed beast resides. I suggest that we find a host for it in the Leaf village to maintain power balance with the other countries." Kakashi said. Tsunade paused for a moment and thought about it, but before she could give an answer, Shikamaru and Sakura came in the room. Shikamaru had been made an ANBU member after the war. "You called?" Shikamaru asked as he removed his mask. "Oh, um yes. You're going to be my bodyguard during my trip, along with Sakura. I hate to admit it, but I'm getting old, which makes me a seemingly easy target to rogue ninja." Tsuande said. "Oh ok. We should get going then." Shikamaru said. "We'll finish our conversation when I get back Kakashi." Tsunade said. Tsunade left the village and Kakashi was left in charge. "I don't know if we can wait until you get back." Kakashi said as he walked off.

In the Sand Village, it was almost time for the exams to start. Udon, Moegi, and Konohamaru entered a large building where they waited in a room with many other ninja. Many of the other genin were much bigger than any of Team Ebisu. "Wow, these ninja are pretty big." Moegi said scared. "I'm not scared of them." Konohamaru boasted. Udon remained quiet. Many of the other ninja glared at them. "What are you looking at?" Konohamaru said angrily. "Konohamaru, don't taunt them." Moegi said. Udon remained quiet. Just then, some doors opened and a man in black clothing with many face tattoos stepped out. "Everybody in the room." The man said. All the genin filed into the room. "My name is Kankuro and I am the proctor for the first part of the exam. This part of the exam will be the written part. One simple rule: No Cheating! Or you will be disqualified. You may begin." Kankuro said with a grin.


	3. The Written Portion

All the genin began their test, except Konohamaru. "Oh man! I didn't know there would be a written portion!" Konohamaru thought. He looked over at Moegi, sitting across the room, and she was struggling also. He then looked at Udon, who was sitting next to him, and to his amazement Udon was finished. "How the hell are you finished?" Konohamaru whispered. Udon looked up and shrugged his shoulders as if it were nothing. Konohamaru was bewildered, and just a little frightened at how fast Udon finished. Then all bewilderment and fright left as a thought entered his head. "Oh! I can copy off of him!" He thought. But he remembered what the proctor had said at the beginning: "No Cheating! If you do you will be disqualified!" Konohamaru didn't want to be disqualified, so he tried to see what the test was like. He looked at the first question. "If Ninja 1 throws a shuriken at you from a distance of 1 meter 5 seconds before Ninja 2 throws a shuriken at you from a distance of half a meter, which shuriken would probably hit you first?" The question read. "What the fu...How the hell am I supposed to know that?" Konohamru thought. Konohamaru then thought about copying off of Udon again. But, just before he peeked at Udon's test the proctor yelled, "You! I said no cheating! You're disqualified!" Konohamaru's heart stopped and his eyes began to swell with tears. He began to stand up to leave, but then noticed that it was another ninja the proctor was yelling at. Konohamaru then let out a huge exhale, but before he could get back to his test, "Time's up! Everyone put their pencils down!" The proctor yelled. "Crap, I'm gonna fail!" Konohamaru thought.

"Now, before I check the tests this is you're chance to quit." Kankuro said. Everyone straightened up in their seats, except Udon. "If you didn't pass the test you will never be able to take the chunin exam again. However, if you quit now you can be spared, but if you quit your teammates will be forced to quit also. So, it's your choice." Kankuro said as he smiled. Several ninja stood up and left the room. "Anyone else?" Kankuro asked. Konohamaru swallowed hard and began to stand up, but Udon pulled him back down in his seat. Konohamaru looked at Udon, confused, but Udon continued to look at the proctor. "Alright then. Congratulations to all those who stayed, you are moving on to the next portion of the exam." Kankuro said. "What? But you didn't even check our tests?" Konohamaru yelled. "This test wasn't to measure you're intelligence as much as it was to measure your will." Kankuro replied. Konohamaru then sat back down in his seat. "Now, if we're done with the interruptions, I will escort you to the next part of the exam. Follow me." Kankuro said.

He left the room and all the genin in the room followed. While they were walking Kankuro was thinking. "I remember that brat from the Leaf Village from when I took the exam. He's grown a lot. He kinda reminds me of Naruto." Kankuro thought as he smiled. They then stopped at a huge canyon on the outskirts of the village. There they saw a woman with blond hair and a huge fan on her back. "My job is done here. See you later sis." Kankuro said as he disappeared. "Welcome to the Desert Basin. My name is Temari and I am the proctor for the second portion of the exam. There is a temple somewhere in the middle of this basin. There are no rules, your only objective in this portion of the exam is to make it to that temple. You have one week to reach the temple. If you don't make it in a week from now, you're disqualified. Good luck!" She said. All the genin were hesitant at first, but eventually they jumped down the rocks into the Desert Basin. The second part had begun.


	4. Survival in the Sand

On that first day, Team Ebisu struggled and argued in the sweltering desert heat with figuring out which way to go to find the temple. All around them for miles all they could see was sand and cacti. "I think that we need to go this way." Moegi said pointing south. "Well, I think we should go this way!" Konohamaru disagreed as he pointed west. "Well, you can go which ever way you want, but me and Udon are going south." Moegi said without consulting Udon. "Um I..""No! What are you talking about? Udon is coming with me and we're going west!" Konohamaru interrupted Udon. "We're going south!" Moegi yelled as she tugged Udon. "We're going west!" Konohamaru insisted. They went back and forth, never once stopping to hear out Udon, until he snapped. "Shut up! Both of you, shut the hell up! What are you? Two years old? The easiest way to settle this is by going both directions at the same time!" Udon yelled. "Oh, you mean southwest right?" Moegi asked. "Yes!" Udon shouted. "Udon, that's a great idea! Why didn't you say something until now? We could've been on our way already." Konohamaru said as he began walking southwest. Udon's face twisted with anger and frustration as he followed Konohamaru.

Back in the Leaf Village, Kakashi was preparing a team to aid him in sealing the Two-Tailed Beast. He personally chose Yamato, Sai, Tenten, Hinata Hyuga, and Choji Akimichi to aid this mission, which was listed as S-Rank. "The Two-Tails' dwelling is a day's journey from here if we work through the night." Kakashi said. "Your jobs are to subdue the beast while I seal it into this jar." Kakashi said referring to a huge jar strapped to Choji's back. "Is it too heavy Choji?" Kakashi asked. "Not at all, Kakashi sensei!" Choji replied. "Alright, then lets go." Kakashi said. They left that night.

Back in the Desert Basin, that night, they discovered how frigid the desert got. "Man, th-th-this is pretty twisted." Konohamaru said, his teeth chattering. "I know! It's hot during the day and then, all of a sudden it's cold at night. What is that about?" Moegi complained. Udon remained silent for a moment and then stopped. "We need to find somewhere to rest for the night." Udon stated, concerned. "If we keep going like this, we'll die." Udon continued. They scouted the area and found a small spot. An abandoned den of an animal long since dead. They decided to stay there for the night, so they could rest.

The next day, they woke up and continued their trek southwest. They walked and walked passed cacti, over dunes, and billions of grains of sand. They walked until they reached a wall of rocks and briefly stopped. "Well, now we know that wasn't the right direction." Konohamaru said. Udon stared foward at the sand. "Now which way do we go?" Moegi said annoyed. No one provided a response. Udon didn't even acknowledge the question, he continued to watch the sand. "Udon what's wrong? Are you okay?" Moegi asked. Udon didn't respond. "I know what his problem is. He's mad because his idea didn't work. I swear he's such a know-it-all sometimes." Konohamaru replied. "We're being stalked." Udon said firmly. Konohamaru looked at the sand where Udon was staring, and sure enough, he saw something underneath the sand move toward them. Konohamaru threw a kunai at the creature under the sand, and it stopped moving. "I got it!" Konohamaru laughed. Then a huge scorpion, about the size of the three of them combined, came from under the sand. Moegi screamed and became paralyzed with fear. "Come on, Udon. We can take it!" Konohamaru proclaimed. "_Shadow Clone Jutsu_!" Konohamaru said. Three clones of him appeared and charged at the scorpion. One of the clones was struck by the enormous barb at the end of the scorpion's tail and instantly disappeared. The other two clones were clenched by the scorpion's claws. "Wow, it's fast! Ok, Udon now!" Konohamaru instructed. _"1000 Years of Death!_" Udon exclaimed as he appeared behind the scorpion. He jabbed a kunai with a paper bomb attached into the anus of the scorpion and ran. The scorpion turned around to go after Udon, but as soon as it moved it promptly exploded. "That was awesome!" Konohamaru said covered in scorpion guts and sand. "Nice distraction." Udon complimented Konohamaru. Moegi stopped screaming, but still wouldn't move because she was also covered in scorpion guts. "This..is..disgusting." Moegi said.

Kakashi and his team were approaching the den of the beast. As they approached the temperature steadily rose. "Man, it is hot!" Tenten said. Everyone ignored her as they were very aware of the temperature change as well. They came to a clearing where the trees suddenly stopped growing and the land was scorched. "This place is creepy." Choji said as he put the jar down. "Well, where is it Kakashi?" Yamato asked. As if to answer his question, the ground began to shake. The beast came from underground and let out a roar that caused all the trees to get singed because of the rapid rise in temperature. The beast was humongous, standing tall above the trees. The coat of the beast was covered or consisted of eerie blue flames. The beast's eyes were slightly bigger than a human head. The right eye was piercing yellow and the left eye was a dull green. The beast resembled a large cat. Even though the beast was enveloped in flames, the entire team had chills as they got ready to fight. "Be prepared. Even though this is only the Two-Tailed Beast, this is not going to be easy." Kakashi said as he lifted his headband revealing the Sharingan in his left eye.


	5. The Two Tailed Beast

The fighting commenced almost immediately. Kakashi opened the jar, then sat down on the ground and began executing hand signs for the sealing jutsu. "_Wood Style: Great Forest Jutsu_!" Yamato yelled. Yamato outstretched his arm and several pillars of wood shot foward to impale the Two-Tailed Beast. The attack didn't even come close, as when the wood came within 10 feet of the beast, they burned to ash. "_Twin Rising Dragons_!" Tenten exclaimed. Tenten opened two small scrolls and jumped into the air, spiraling upward with the scrolls. Out of the scrolls came a barrage of shinobi weapons. The Two-Tails received pain from the attack, but was far from subdued. It roared again, this time igniting Tenten's scrolls. "_Human Boulder_!" Choji declared. Choji charged at the beast at the size of a large boulder, but was merely swatted away by the cat. The beast fired an enormous fireball at Kakashi, as if it were aware of his intentions. "_Wood Style: Wood Locking Wall_!" Yamato said as he jumped in front of Kakashi. Several strong pillars of wood locked together to protect Yamato and Kakashi. The fireball hit the shield and burned it into nothing. "Those flames are similar to Amaterasu." Kakashi thought as he continued the hand signs. "This is useless. Kakashi is nearly finished with the hand signs for the jutsu. We need to get the beast into a weakened state. Everyone attack at once." Sai commanded. "_Manipulated Tools: Heavenly Chain of Destruction_!" Tenten yelled. "_Spiky Human Boulder_!" Choji yelled. "_Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!" _Hinata yelled. "_Ninja Art: Super Beasts Scroll!_" Sai said. "_Water Style: Water Wave Palm!" _Yamato exclaimed. All the jutsu were executed at the same time, taking away the beast's chance to counter the attacks. When the attacks stopped the beast seemed to be very exhausted and the temperature in the area began to fall. Kakashi then finished the hand signs and the sealing began. The beast struggled, but was unable to resist the sealing power. In two short minutes, the beast and all it's chakra was sealed in the jar and Kakashi closed the jar. "Mission complete. Let's head home." Kakashi said as he lowered his headband to hide his eye again. They then left with all of them having burns somewhere on their bodies.

The third day in the Desert Basin, Team Ebisu was lost. "Oh man!" Konohamaru exclaimed. "What is it?" Udon asked. "We've been here before." Konohamaru replied. "How do you know?" Moegi asked. Konohamaru pointed at a cactus with a slash in it. "Earlier this morning, I marked this cactus out of boredom." Konohamaru said matter-of-factly. "This means we've been walking in a huge circle." Udon said. "Well, come on guys we can't just sit here." Konohamaru insisted. Konohamaru began walking in a random direction and the rest of the team followed. They walked for miles over the sand dunes, but to no avail. There was still no temple or water in sight. They eventually came to a cliff. Udon scooted to the edge and looked down. "It seems like it never ends." Udon said. "I'll throw this rock and when it hits the bottom we can estimate how far down it is." Udon continued. Udon chucked a rather good size rock off the cliff and all of them listened for the sound of it hitting the bottom. They sat there for two minutes and thirty seconds and the rock still hadn't hit the bottom. "I'm guessing it wouldn't be a good idea to go that way then." Konohamaru said. They began to get up and walk away, but Udon took his time. "Come on, Udon. Let's go!" Konohamaru insisted. Udon started walking, but he started to hear a crackling noise. "What is that?" Udon asked. His question was never answered because a portion of the cliff broke off and fell down the huge hole with Udon on it. "**No! Udon!" **Konohamaru screamed as he almost jumped off. Moegi grabbed him by his scarf and pulled him back up. "Konohamaru, he's gone. Udon wouldn't want you to throw your life away though." Moegi said, suddenly sounding older. Konohamaru cried, but no tears came out because he was dehydrated. Konohamaru had never said it out loud, but Udon was his best friend. They both stayed there crying with no tears.

The next day, a sandstorm started up. Konohamaru and Moegi sat in their little shelter watching the storm from inside. "Maybe we should wait it out. What do you think Konohamaru?" Moegi asked. Konohamaru didn't say anything, he just stared out at the storm. Then he started feeling around in his pocket. He pulled out some green goggles and put them on over his eyes. He wrapped his scarf around his nose and mouth and he went out into the sandstorm. Moegi quickly put on her goggles and followed him. "Konohamaru! How do you know this is the right way?" Moegi shouted over the storm. "We can't go against the storm, or we won't last past noon. We need to walk with the wind at our backs." Konohamaru said. Moegi was suprised by what Konohamaru said. She followed without argument. Even though they had their goggles on, they still couldn't see more than ten feet beyond their face. But despite this fact, Konohamaru never stopped. They even walked through the night and the storm never let up. They walked until the morning when the storm began to clear up. When it cleared up, Konohamaru and Moegi saw another team of genin. Apparently the genin saw them too, because they stood up and began to walk toward them. "Look what we got here!" One of them said. He was very scary looking with blue hair, green eyes and a crazed look on their face. "Who are you guys?" Moegi asked. "We're Cloud Village ninja." Another one of them answering. He was also very intimidating, because he was tall and wore a metal suit as opposed to normal clothing and always wore sunglasses. "What the hell do you guys want?" Konohamaru asked, becoming impatient. "We're going to kill you. To insure that there will be hardly any other competition for the last portion of the exam." The only girl out of their group calmly replied. "So, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Which is it gonna be?" The tall one asked. "_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru replied. "Apparently, we're doing this the hard way." The tall one said as he prepared to fight. "Ooooh, I like the hard way. The hard way is fun!" The crazy one replied.


	6. Udon's Return

Three of Konohamaru's clones pulled out kunai and threw them at the Cloud Genin, initiating the fight. Two others remained stationary next to him. But, to Konohamaru's dismay, all three kunai went toward the ninja wearing the sunglasses and hit his metal suit. Even though this was not his intention, Konohamaru's clones went with it and began attacking the Cloud-nin. One clone crouched down as another ran toward it. The running clone jumped on the back of the crouching clone and was launched into the air. The crouching clone then dived in the direction of the enemy. The third attacking clone, in the midst of the attention drawn to the others, managed to get behind the other ninja. The kunoichi of the group noticed this. "Ikazuchi. Handle it." She commanded. "I've got this!" The crazed, blue hair ninja said. "Moegi, get ready!" Konohamaru instructed. "_Wind Style: Thunder Clap!"_ Ikazuchi exclaimed. He clapped his hands together and a burst of air nullified the attacks of Konohamaru's clones, destroying them in the process. The jutsu made caused a loud, thunderous rumble to resonate through the desert air. Before the Cloud-nin had a chance to boast about their defense, Moegi threw a large shuriken at Ikazuchi. Ikazuchi tried to dodge the shuriken, but when he did, it transformed back into Konohamaru and punched the ninja wearing sunglasses in the face. The ninja's glasses broke, revealing even more intimidating dark red eyes. The other Cloud Genin seemed to be stunned that their teammate was hit. "_Rasengan!_" Konohamaru called while they were distracted. Konohamaru and his last clone charged at the ninja with the broken glasses, sharing a Rasengan as he could not yet handle it on his own. The Rasengan was grinded into the chest of the ninja and sent him flying backwards several feet. "Jishaku!" The kunoichi called. "I'm fine, Ame." Jishaku said as he struggled to get up. "Quick, while my jutsu is still in effect, throw some kunai at that brat." He continued. Both Ikazuchi and Ame instantly threw kunai at Konohamaru, who instinctively jumped out of their way. But, instead of the kunai continuing on their path, they followed Konohamaru and struck him in the chest. Konohamaru fell to his knees and coughed up blood. He then fell to his back and lay their. "Oh, Konohamaru..." Moegi began to cry. Ikazuchi walked toward Moegi chuckling. "You're the only one left." Ikazuchi laughed as he held Moegi in the air by her neck. "I'll kill you quick, so you won't feel pain okay?" He laughed. Suddenly there was an explosion sending both Moegi and Ikazuchi flying. However, Moegi was caught by someone, whom she did not know because of the smoke. Then smoke cleared and the person their was no mistake. "Udon.." Moegi said blankly, her tears stopping.

Ikazuchi lie in the sand unconscious next to Ame. "Don't you dare attack my friends." Udon stated. Moegi stared at Udon because their was something different about him. It wasn't just that Udon's eternal runny nose had finally stopped, Udon seemed like a changed person. "How dare you try to give me orders you brat! I'll kill you!" Ame yelled, enraged. She ran toward Udon and attempted to kick him in the face, but he suddenly was no longer in front of her. "You're slow." Udon said from behind Ame, startling her and Moegi. She then shook it off and tried to attack him again. Even though her aim seemed to be dead on, she missed. Udon then grabbed her wrist and snapped it backwards, producing an unpleasant cracking noise. Ame screamed, cried, and writhed in agony in the desert sand. Moegi was confused as she didn't see anything happen. "Come on, Moegi. Let's get Konohamaru and hurry to get out of here before she realizes it was only an illusion." Udon said as he took the kunai out of Konohamaru's chest. He picked up Konohamaru and carried him on his back and they ran. They ran through the night, especially when the screaming stopped. Early the next morning, they had to stop because Moegi hadn't slept in two days. Udon pulled out a canteen for Moegi and put it beside her while she slept. Konohamaru then woke up with a dazed look in his eyes. "Wait a second, what?" Konohamaru said confused. He looked into the distance as if he saw something causing Udon to think the Cloud ninja had caught up to them. He quickly noticed that there was no one there though. "It can't be." Konohamaru said in disbelief. Udon looked again, but as before he saw nothing causing him to become confused. "Naruto is that you? It is you Naruto! You're not dead!" Konohamaru said as he got up and ran despite his wounds. Udon looked and saw that Konohamaru was referring to and, consequently, running toward a cactus. Udon ran at Konohamaru and tackled him. "Stop, Konohamaru, stop! It's a mirage!" Udon said as Konohamaru struggled. Konohamaru then stopped struggling as he stared blankly at Udon. "Are you a mirage?" Konohamaru asked. "No." Udon replied as he laughed. "Does that mean you're a ghost?" Konohamaru said, suddenly seeming scared. "No." Udon said, this time not laughing. "A zombie?" Konohamaru asked, becoming really scared. "No! I'm not dead, I never was." Udon said becoming angry. Konohamaru then hugged Udon tightly, causing Udon to dispell all anger. Konohamaru then fainted in Udon's arms. "His wounds are still too deep. He needs some water." Udon said to himself. He pulled out a canteen and forced Konohamaru to drink the water. Udon stood watch while his teammates slept that night.

Back in the Leaf Village, Kakashi took the large jar and put it in a secret cellar below the Hokage's Mansion. "Kakashi, we have the perfect host for the beast." An ANBU member said to him. The ANBU whispered the name in Kakashi's ear. Kakashi paused and nodded. "First thing's first. We need to talk to Tsunade about it before anything. And even after that, you need to line up some back-ups for the potential host because her mother might not consent to it. The ANBU nodded and disappeared. Kakashi then left the room as the temperature began to rise.

The next morning, in the Desert Basin, his teammates woke up and they set out to find the temple again. "This is the last day we have before the second portion of the exam is over. We need to find that temple." Udon said. "We've been out here six days. There is absolutely no way we're going to find that temple." Konohamaru replied. "Don't say that, Konohamaru. We'll make it." Moegi said. "Ok. By the way, how did you survive that fall Udon?" Konohamaru quickly asked. "That's a story for another time. Right now we need to focus on getting to the temple." Udon quickly replied. "I definitely didn't miss that about you." Konohamaru muttered. "I didn't miss your mouth either." Udon shot back. "What did you just say?" Konohamaru yelled as he got in Udon's face. "You heard me!" Udon said getting back in Konohamaru's face. They began to wrestle and roll around in the sand. "Um, guys?" Moegi called. They continued to wrestle, ignoring Moegi. "Guys?" Moegi tried again patiently. Again they ignored her. "GUYS!" Moegi yelled at the top of her lungs. They then stopped wrestling to listen to her. "Thank you. I see the temple, guys." Moegi said. "No way!" Udon said in disbelief. "It's probably just another mirage." Konohamaru said. "Wow, you really are stupid. If it were, we wouldn't all see it." Udon replied. "Well then, why are we still standing here? Let's go!" Konohamaru said as he took off for the temple. The team made it to the temple just at noon. Inside they saw two Mist Village genin, two Sand genin, two Grass genin, one Sound genin, and one Rock genin. Team Ebisu seemed to be the only team that still had all three members left. They all waited in the room, no one speaking to each other. They watched the clock and waited for midnight. At 11:57 pm, Jishaku, one of the Cloud genin, walked into the temple. Three minutes later, the lights in the temple came on and a red-headed Sand ninja was in the center of the room. "Congratulations. You've passed the second portion of the exam. I am the Kazekage, Gaara of the Sand. The next and final portion of the Chunin Exam will not start for a month. This is a resting and training period before you have to fight in a Chunin Tournament. These fights will not necessarily be based on who wins, but the skills of the ninja. So, it is possible to lose and still become a Chunin. The opposite also holds true. If you win, you still may not become a Chunin. Understood?" Gaara asked the genin. They all nodded. "Good. Follow this tunnel and it will lead you back to the Sand Village. Good luck to all of you. You'll need it." Gaara said with a sinister grin and disappeared. All the genin then went back to start their training.


	7. Training Begins!

When the genin got back to the Sand Village, they were greeted by their senseis. Ebisu seemed suprised to see his students. "What's with the face Ebisu sensei?" Konohamaru asked. "To be quite honest, I didn't think you three would make it." Ebisu said. "What? Why?" Moegi said, becoming angry. "I'm sure you three realized, that yours is the only team to have all members pass the second portion. The Chunin Exams are meant to weed out the ninja not fit to be Chunin, and I didn't think you three would make it passed the first portion. I am very proud of you. It gives me honor to be your sensei." Ebisu said. The Leaf Genin smiled at this statement. "Well, come on Ebisu sensei. We all need to start training." Konohamaru insisted. "Hold on, Konohamaru. Listen to what you are saying. The last portion of the exam, that you are training for, is a tournament. You three are potential opponents. You wouldn't want your potential opponent to know all of your moves, so I have temporary teachers for all of you." Ebisu said with a smile. Two other Leaf ninja appeared next to Ebisu. "Udon, your teacher will be Daikoku Funeno." Ebisu said. "Would you like to catch some lunch before we start training?" Asked a large ninja with a small goatee. "Sure." Udon replied. They then walked away leisurely and began to talk. "Moegi, your teacher will be Hamaki Mimura." Ebisu said. "Follow me. Your training will begin immediately." Hamaki said as he took off running. "Wait! Slow down!" Moegi shouted as she took off after him. "Ok, where's my teacher?" Konohamaru asked excitedly. Ebisu smiled and didn't say a word. "You can't be serious. You're my teacher?" Konohamaru asked enraged.

"Ok, Konohamaru, I'm going to help you to better control your chakra." Ebisu said on the first day of Konohamaru's training. "And how do you plan on doing that?" Konohamaru asked. "Do you remember the water walking exercise?" Ebisu asked in response. Konohamaru nodded. "Well, I'm going to have you redo that exercise, but this time you will be wearing weights." Ebisu said with a grin. "I think I can handle that." Konohamaru beamed. "There's a catch. You will create as many shadow clones as physically possible, and they will all go through this training with you. Understood?" Ebisu asked. "_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru said. Five exact copies of Konohamaru appeared. "Understood!" They all said. Ebisu then gave all six of them 25 pound weights to put around their ankles. When they finished they, immediately attempted to stand on a pond and immediately sank. "Not as easy as it sounds is it? Keep trying." Ebisu laughed.

Udon's first day of training was simply getting to know his teacher and vice versa. "Well, what do you consider your strong point?" Daikoku asked Udon. "Math. Numbers. Stuff of that nature." Udon replied. "The calculating type, huh? Now, I'm going to ask you some questions so be honest. Where are you in terms of genjutsu?" Daikoku asked. "My friends don't know this, but I am actually great with genjutsu. It seems to come natural." Udon replied. "I thought so. All of these things you're telling me have to do with your brain. It seems you're very smart, but today we're going to see just how intelligent you really are. This is a standardized IQ test. You're going to finish this." Daikoku said laughing a little. But, to Daikoku's suprise, Udon grabbed the test and immediately began filling in answers. The test had 150 questions, but Udon completed the test in 20 minutes. "There's no way.." Daikoku said as he graded the test. "Udon, you have an IQ of 180. That's higher than my IQ! You have something really special going on up there." Daikoku said with a large smile. "Thank you." Udon replied, blushing.

Moegi's first day was filled with running. She chased her new teacher all over the Sand Village before she couldn't run anymore. "Get up." Hamaki commanded her. "I can't." Moegi said. "Get up!" Hamaki yelled. "I can't!" Moegi yelled back. "You're stamina is horrible. That is what we are going to work on this week. Now get up!" Hamaki demanded. Moegi got up and ran after Hamaki again. "What did I get myself into?" Moegi asked herself out loud. "Hell." Hamaki said as he laughed. This caused Moegi to become angry and run faster after Hamaki. Hamaki picked up his speed also so that Moegi would continue to chase.


	8. The Second Week

Udon's entire first week of training consisted of games and tests to challenge Udon's mind. Udon eventually became bored with this sort of trainin by the second week. "Is this the only training we're going to do?" Udon asked. "No. I was just about to ask you where you stand with normal ninjutsu. Do you know any ninjutsu techniques?" Daikoku asked. Udon thought and almost said no. "Oh yeah!" Udon said, suddenly remembering. "_Summoning Jutsu!_" Udon said. Udon bit his thumb and performed the correct hand signs and slapped his hand on the ground. There was a puff of smoke and a large, black, man-sized owl appeared. "Whoa! I've never seen that summoning. Where did you learn that?" Daikoku asked. "When I was in the Desert Basin." Udon said. "What happened?" Daikoku asked. And Udon began to tell him.

"While I was in the Desert Basin, my team and I came to a cliff. When I peered over the cliff, I couldn't see the ground. To test how far from the top the ground was, I threw a large rock down from the cliff. After waiting for a few minutes, my team decide that we needed to get going. I was slow to get up, but when I did the cliff face gave away and I had no chance to move. I fell for several meters before something caught me. I didn't know who or what it was at the moment because I became unconscious. When I woke up, I found myself surrounded by owls of all sizes. They were actually intending to eat me, but this owl next to me, who I later found out had also saved me from my fall, came to my defense. Apparently, they had only ever met one human, and had no intention of seeing another because they were afraid they would be hunted. Then, an elder owl came through and scolded this owl who had saved my life twice about bringing a human into their valley. I then jumped to his defense and all the owls gasped. The same owl who said that they should eat me stepped foward and was screaming at me about interrupting the elder. He then started trying to kill me, but of course I wasn't about to let him just kill me. I took off running through this valley while I was chased by a humongous owl. The elder owl began to laugh seeming to find comedy in our chase. Maybe I was screaming and just didn't know it. But the elder then began to choke. All of the other owls including the one chasing me stopped to try and help the elder. I walked over to the crowd and pushed my way through to the elder. I got behind him and slapped his back and made him cough up whatever it was choking him. All of the owls cheered and the elder thanked me. As thanks to me they pulled out a large summoning contract. The only name and handprint on it was that of the First Kazekage. So I signed the contract with the owls and now I can summon them." Udon said finishing his story.

"That is really impressive." Daikoku said, intrigued. "Do you know any other ninjutsu techniques?" Daikoku asked. "I don't think he does." The owl answered with a smile. "But, I do." The owl continued. "This second week we will focus on the collaboration between you and your summonings." Daikoku said. "How are we going to do that?" Udon asked. "By sparring." Daikoku replied with a smile. "_Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!_" Daikoku exclaimed. A giant fireball was shot toward the owl and Udon. Udon ran out of the way and the owl flew toward the sky. "_Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!_" Daikoku said. Several smaller fireballs were fired at Udon, but the owl swooped down and rescued him from the attack. "Suterusu, swing back around and fly toward Daikoku." Udon said from the owls back. "Right." Suterusu said. Just as Udon said, they flew back around to attack Daikoku. "_Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!_" Daikoku said. A violent gale of wind repelled Suterusu's attack causing him to disappear in a puff of smoke. "Not quite, but you're getting there." Daikoku said with a laugh. "I don't know what else I could have done." Udon said. "You should've come up with a strategy." Daikoku said. "I've never strategized that much. Konohamaru usually comes up with attack formations and stuff like that. I stick to the numbers." Udon said, seeming upset. Daikoku thought about this problem for a second then came up with an idea. "Well, if there's one thing I've learned the past week, it's that you are great with numbers. So just think of a strategy like an equation. All the things that could happen are variables and the end product is what you want to happen." Daikoku said. This seemed to make total sense to Udon as he instantly got back on his feet. "Let's do this." Udon said with confidence.

By the sixth day of this type of training, Udon had become a strategizing phenom. It came to the point that Daikoku couldn't execute an attack. "One more time, Udon?" Daikoku asked with a smile. "Yeah!_ Summoning Jutsu!_" Udon said. Udon had perfected the technique now. He knew exactly the amount of chakra needed to summon the type and number of owls he needed. This time he summoned a smaller owl, about the size of his head named Tezema. He had grown fond of this one, even giving it his goggles. "Let's do this!" Tezema said, stealing Udon's battle phrase. Udon ran toward Daikoku and Tezema flew upward out of sight. "_Water Style: Violent Water Wave!_" Daikoku called. A stream of water flowed out of Daikoku's mouth toward Udon. Udon moved out of the way of the attack and threw three shuriken at Daikoku. "_Fire Style: Owl Pellets!_" Tezema called from above. As Daikoku tried to dodge Udon's shuriken, explosive owl pellets came from above. These caused explosions all around Daikoku sending him flying. Tezema and Udon were about to attack again, but Daikoku waved them off. "Good job, Udon." Daikoku said breathing heavily. "Tezema is my second favorite summon, next to Suteresu." Udon said when Tezema disappeared. "He's small, but he packs a punch." Daikoku laughed. "Now, where do you stand with taijutsu?" Daikoku asked, brushing himself off. Udon remained quiet as he knew that taijutsu was his weak point. "I see. After tomorrow, we'll work on your taijutsu." Daikoku said. Udon nodded and they took a break.


	9. Konohamaru's Resolve

Konohamaru's first and second weeks of training were filled with the weight training. He had moved from 25 to 50 pound weights by the end of week two. "This training is a success. It's time to move to the applications of this training." Ebisu said. Konohamaru dispelled his clones and took off his weights. "Now, I want you to create as many clones as possible." Ebisu said. "Okay. _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru said. Eight clones of Konohamaru appeared. "See, you have more chakra and better chakra control. Now, I want you to create a Rasengan, without the help of a clone." Ebisu said. Konohamaru and all his clones attempted to do this. They tried and when they failed they would disappear. Finally, when it was just Konohamaru and one other clone, they were both able to create small Rasengans. "I did it! I actually did it!" Konohamaru cheered. "Yes you did. Tomorrow, we're going to start testing your limits." Ebisu said menacingly. That night Konohamaru cried because he missed Naruto. Naruto was his friend. Konohamaru considered him a companion, a rival, and never in a million years would have imagined him gone. Naruto was Konohamaru's idol. He was in fact the one who had taught him the Rasengan and Shadow Clone Jutsu. This thought made him laugh because he remembered when Naruto was attempting to teach him the Rasengan, and Konohamaru thought it was a pervy jutsu. Konohamaru then stopped laughing and crying. He came up with a resolve. "I'll be as respected and powerful as Naruto was someday." Konohamaru whispered to himself before he fell asleep.

"Hamaki-sensei, when are you going to teach me a new technique?" Moegi asked Hamaki on her third week of training. "I'm not." Hamaki replied. "What? Then what am I even doing here with you?" Moegi said becoming angry. "The last portion of the exam is based on skill." Hamaki replied. "Yeah, skills you're supposed to be teaching me!" Moegi screamed. "A ninja's power, skill, and effectiveness is not measured by the jutsus you know, or by the tools you use. They are measured by the way that you use your knowledge to the best of your ability." Hamaki snapped back. "That is why I am raising your stamina. That also raises the amount of chakra you have, which you can concentrate toward your impressive taijutsu ability." Hamaki continued. These words seemed to inspire Moegi as she stopped complaining and kept going without another word. Hamaki smiled as it brought him pleasure to see his student work so hard. "Fine. I'll teach you a low level jutsu." Hamaki said with a smile. "Yes!" Moegi said. "It's called the Paralysis Jutsu. As its name suggests, it inflicts paralysis upon your opponent. This jutsu is my specialty. With my training it will become like second nature to you." Hamaki said.

"_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Ebisu said. He created three clones. "Alright, Konohamaru. I want you to destroy these clones using the Rasengan. Can you handle it?" Ebisu challenged. "I think so." Konohamaru said, determined. The clones of Ebisu then began attacking Konohamaru. "Wha- You didn't say they would be attacking me!" Konohamaru screamed. "You don't expect your opponent to stand still long enough for you to execute the attack, do you? You'll have to think of a way." Ebisu said. Konohamaru turned around and threw a smoke bomb. The smoke cloud enveloped him and he couldn't be seen. "_Rasengan!_" Konohamaru shouted from the smoke cloud. Konohamaru jetted out of the cloud and grinded the Rasengan into the face of one of Ebisu's clone. The clone was sent flying and then dissipated. The other two clones threw kunai at Konohamaru. They hit Konohamaru, but it turned out to be a clone. "_Rasengan!_" Konohamaru called from behind the clones. One of Ebisu's clones got the Rasengan drilled into their back and dissipated. The last clone tried to hit Konohamaru, but he was too fast and jumped out of the way. As he landed, he prepared to do another Rasengan, but he was exhausted. Ebisu's clone was running at him full speed, so he had to act quick. "I can't do another one!" Konohamaru yelled to Ebisu. "Yes you can." Ebisu said, simply. The clone was now only a few meters away from Konohamaru. Konohamaur clapped his hands together, trying to build up the chakra. "Come on. Come on." Konohamaru said as the clone got closer. He then rotated his hands together in opposite directions and the chakra rapidly built up. "_Rasengan!_" Konohamaru yelled. Konohamaru smashed the Rasengan into the chest of the clone and sent it flying several yards. "I did it! I did it." Konohamaru said as he fell to his knees, almost completely drained of chakra. "Yes you did. And for now we know that your limit on Rasengan is three times a day." Ebisu said. "Yeah, but that last one was more powerful." Konohamaru thought to his self. "I think you deserve a break. At least for a day." Ebisu said to Konohamaru. "I'm not gonna be as strong as Naruto taking breaks. Tomorrow, we'll keep working on it." Konohamaru said as he passed out. Ebisu was suprised, but very proud of his student's drive to be strong. "You'll be just as strong as he was." Ebisu thought to himself with a smile.


	10. The Final Week

The month of training was now starting to come to an end. It was now the middle of the fourth week and all three Leaf Genin were wrapping up their training. "Great job, Udon. We've come a long way in two weeks. The last portion is in two days, so for these couple of days, we're going to focus on inflicting as much damage as possible without using that much chakra." Daikoku said. "That involves a lot of taijutsu and weapons, right?" Udon asked. "Yes, in your situation you can use that time to come up with a strategy." Daikoku said. Udon nodded and attacked Daikoku head on. "Don't do that. You can end up trapped easily." Daikoku said. "Unless, you have a plan." Udon said with a smile. The frontal attacking Udon was just an illusion, and the actual Udon attacked from the side. Daikoku was very skilled in taijutsu though, and was able to easily counter all of Udon's attempts. Udon jumped back and threw some shuriken at Daikoku. Instead of trying to dodge them, like Udon wanted, Daikoku simply deflected them with a large kunai knife. Udon then got a plan, and ran toward Daikoku. When he got within arm's reach of Daikoku, he slid on the ground to try and trip him. Daikoku jumped up, but realized his error. The Udon that ran at him was just another illusion. The real Udon then tackled Daikoku in mid-air and took him to the ground. "Good job!" Daikoku said. "Thank you." Udon replied. Then the two continued to spar.

"Again." Hamaki commanded. "_Paralysis Jutsu!_" Moegi shouted. Moegi performed the correct hand signs and then paralyzed Hamaki. But, Hamaki was skilled in the technique, being able to reverse the effects too. "Again." Hamaki commanded. "Why do we keep doing this?" Moegi complained. "So that you master the jutsu." Hamaki said. "I already have mastered it. Not everyone is going to be able to break out of it like you!" Moegi said. "The opponent will not stop long enough to be caught in it. Plus, the length of the paralysis is linked directly to the amount of chakra you put into it. You're not going to be able to paralyze the opponent for more than five seconds, without quickly draining your chakra. I am waiting two seconds before reversing the jutsu, so that it will seem much longer when in the fight." Hamaki explained. Moegi then shut her mouth and continued training with the technique.

"Let's go over it again." Ebisu said. "What is the limit on your Rasengan?" Ebisu asked. "Three times a day." Konohamaru answered. "How many clones can you create without running out of chakra?" Ebisu asked. "Eight clones." Konohamaru said. "What is the recommended amount of clones per fight?" Ebisu asked. "Ebisu-sensei, we've gone over this a thousand times! Why do we have to keep doing this?" Konohamaru asked. "The fights start tommorow. I want this information to be considered every time you strategize." Ebisu answered quickly. "Now, what is the recommended number of clones per fight?" Ebisu insisted. "Five clones recommended per fight." Konohamaru sighed. "How many Rasengans per fight?" Ebisu asked. "One per fight." Konohamaru answered. "Good, let's go over it again." Ebisu said with a smile. "Oh my gosh!" Konohamaru screamed.

The next day, the last portion of the exam was about to start. All the genin went to a huge arena built solely for this occasion. The seats were filled with shinobi from all over and citizens of the Sand Village. The arena had a pond, a rocky area, a forest like area, and of course plenty of sand. The Kages from the Five Great Shinobi Villages all showed up. All of them watched for their villages up and coming genin. Then, when all of the genin had showed up, Kazekage Gaara stood up. "Thank you all for coming, all of you. This is a wonderful opportunity not only for the genin to become chunin, but for the bond between villages. As the leader of this village, I say, let the last portion of the Chunin Exam begin!" Gaara announced. The entire crowd cheered loudly and clapped their hands. A Sand Village ninja went to the center of the arena. "The first match will be between Konohamaru Sarutobi of the Leaf Village, and Seishi of the Sand Village." The ninja announced. "Great, I'm the first match." Konohamaru grumbled. "Go get him, Konohamaru!" Moegi said. Konohamaru smiled then looked to Udon. Udon smiled and nodded. Konohamaru jumped down to the arena meeting in the middle with the proctor and his opponent. "The rules are simple. You will fight until I think that one of you are unable to fight, or until one of you dies." The proctor said. Konohamaru gulped when he said this. "Shake hands." The proctor commanded. Konohamaru shook hands with his opponent and finally took a good look at him. He had green eyes and dark brown hair. He also had something wrapped up on his back. "Good luck to both of you. Now, scoot back five steps." The proctor said. They did so without a word. "Let the match begin!" The proctor yelled.


	11. Konohamaru vs Seishi!

Seishi immediately took the object off of his back and began unwrapping it. Konohamaru threw a kunai at Seishi, but the object stopped it. Finally it was unwrapped, and Konohamaru almost got scared. It was a large puppet in the shape of a snake. It had several segmented parts and a large mouth. Its tail had an eerie sounding rattle. Seishi began moving his fingers and the puppet attacked Konohamaru. Konohamaru avoided the attack by jumping to the side. This didn't stop the snake however, as it only swung its tail and knocked Konohamaru down. The puppet then was about to bite Konohamaru with very long and sharp fangs. "_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru called quickly. Konohamaru created one clone and it pulled him to safety and used itself as a shield. The puppet bit straight through the clone and it instantly disappeared. The clone's new knowledge was then transferred to him. "Oh man! I didn't even see the poison on the fangs." Konohamaru thought to himself. Konohamaru threw a smoke bomb down and it exploded. Konohamaru put on his goggles and saw the snake enter the smoke like he wanted. Konohamaru was about to destroy it with a Rasengan, but stopped himself. "There's no reason to waste chakra on this thing. That's probably what he wants me to do." Konohamaru thought. Just then the smoke began to clear and Seishi could see him. Seishi pulled his hands away from each other and a hatch opened on the puppet's chest. Inside its chest was hundreds of projectiles. "Oh shi-" Konohamaru began, but couldn't finish. The puppet launched a kunai wrapped in paper bombs and caused a huge explosion.

There was a large cloud of smoke in the area where Konohamaru was standing, and the arena was quiet. The crowd began to cheer, but then Konohamaru emerged from the smoke holding a windmill shuriken. He looked at the Sun and he looked at where his shadow was cast. Konohamaru then threw the shuriken toward Seishi. Seishi struggled a bit to get his puppet to move, but it finally moved and then went to take the hit from the large windmill shuriken. However, the shuriken changed into a Konohamaru clone and kicked the puppet into the sand, revealing the second shuriken which was hiding in the shadow of the first. This shuriken was right on path for Seishi. He attempted to dodge it, but it changed into another clone of Konohamaru and punched Seishi in the face. That clone of Konohamaru pummeled Seishi in the face and the other attempted to hold down Seishi's puppet. The real Konohamaru walked slowly toward Seishi with his arm outstretched. He was beat up and had scars and bruises all over from the explosion. Then Seishi's puppet stabbed one of the clones of Konohamaru with its tail and got up to attack the real Konohamaru. Konohamaru seemed not to notice and just continued to walk slowly toward Seishi. "Oh no! Konohamaru!" Moegi cried out. The puppet slithered up to Konohamaru and was about to attack Konohamaru.

Then it all of a sudden just stopped. The entire stadium seemed not to know what happened. Konohamaru smiled and pulled out a kunai. "I knew it!" Konohamaru giggled as he attached a paper bomb to the end of the kunai. Konohamaru threw it at the area of trees in the arena seemingly for no reason. There was an explosion, and the puppet fell to the ground. When the smoke cleared, the entire stadium saw the real Seishi laying in a pile of ashes. The other Seishi that seemed to be making the movements was a puppet also. The proctor then walked back into the arena. "Konohamaru Sarutobi is the winner!" He announced. The crowd cheered loudly for Konohamaru. A team of medic ninja came to take care of Seishi and his puppets. Konohamaru smiled and walked back to where his friends were. "The second match will be between Kazusa of the Grass Village, and Ken Aoenkou of the Sand Village." The proctor said. As the match began Udon and Moegi congratulated Konohamaru. "Thank you guys!" Konohamaru beamed. "How did you know, Konohamaru?" Udon asked seeming to be intrigued. "I had already found out by the time that the snake was in my clone's face. From there it was just a matter of what to do." Konohamaru said confidently. "That's really impressive, Konohamaru!" Moegi said. "I agree." Udon replied with a smile. "Me too." Ebisu chimed in. Before they knew it the second fight was over. "The third match will be between Moegi of the Leaf Village, and Miura Kusarikei of the Grass Village." The proctor said. "Wish me luck you guys!" Moegi said excitedly. Moegi went down into the arena and met in the middle with the proctor and her opponent. "Are you two aware of the rules?" The proctor asked. The two of them nodded. "Good. Now, shake hands and take five steps in opposite directions." The proctor instructed. Moegi shook hands with the ninja before her. He had dark brown eyes and shoulder-length orange hair. He wore a blue t-shirt and black shorts. They both walked to their sides. "Let the match begin!" The proctor yelled.


	12. Miura vs Moegi!

The crowd cheered and they began to attack each other. Moegi threw five shuriken at Miura. Miura simply moved out of the way of these shuriken and continued to run toward Moegi. "_Paralysis Jutsu!_" Moegi called. Miura's legs suddenly locked up and he fell, face first into the ground. Moegi then picked him up off the ground and punched him. Due to Moegi's strength, Miura was sent flying backwards. Miura got up slowly then smiled as he raised his right hand. "_Ballistic Chain Missile!_" Miura yelled. A chakra chain with a kunai attached at the end shot at high speed toward Moegi. Moegi jumped out of the way of the attack and it hit the arena wall, causing it to form a big hole. "What was that, Udon?" Konohamaru asked as the chain disappeared. "That's not a common technique, so I don't know. But, I bet its probably a Kekkei Genkai." Udon replied. Moegi got up and unstrapped an oversized shuriken from her back. Then she threw it toward Miura. Miura attempted to dodge the weapon, but Moegi had attached a small metal wire to it and could control it's path. "_Chain Link Jutsu!_" Miura said. A chain shot from his left hand and attached to the oversized shuriken. He overpowered Moegi and deflected the shuriken into a rock. Miura then ran toward Moegi ready to attack. Moegi tried to move away from Miura. "_Binding Chain Jutsu!_" Miura called. A chain shot out of his left hand and wrapped around Moegi's arm. He then pulled on the chain to make Moegi come to him. Moegi misunderestimated his strength and was sent flying toward him. Miura cocked his arm back to punch Moegi. "_Paralysis Jutsu!_" Moegi yelled. Miura froze and Moegi kicked him in the face sending both of them flying backwards.

When Miura got up he was no longer smiling. A more serious look spread upon his face. He pulled to kunai out of his pockets and stared at Moegi. Moegi threw a flash bomb in the middle of the arena and put on her goggles. Miura was blinded and could not see, so Moegi took the opportunity and ran full speed at him. She got within 25 feet of him before his vision came back to him. "_Double Ballistic Chain Missile!_" Miura screeched. Chains shot out of both hands toward Moegi and almost hit her. She jumped to the side to avoid the attack causing a large hole in the ground. She was now within 10 feet of him. "_Binding Chain Jutsu!_" Miura called again. The chains he had just shot out came through the ground and attached themselves to Moegi's feet. She tripped when this happen and fell on her face. Miura then began running with the chain still in his hand, dragging Moegi along. She went through the holes the chains had created and was flying around the arena with no control. Finally, Miura stopped and used all his might to guide Moegi into the large rocks in the arena. The chains dissipated as Moegi was slammed into a boulder. For a few seconds it looked as if Miura had obtained victory, but then Moegi slowly got up. She began to run toward Miura again. Miura was shocked and exhausted. He barely had any chakra left and Moegi still wanted to attack him. He only had one shot left. He pulled out a kunai from his pocket. "_Ballistic Chain Missile!_" Miura shouted with enthusiasm. The chain shot out of his right hand at high speed toward Moegi. Moegi dodged it and seemed to have victory coming, as she was about to knock Miura out with a punch. Then, Miura tugged with all his strength on the chain which was attached to a large rock. The rock dislodged from its place and went flying in the air toward Moegi. Moegi didn't notice, and so was knocked out by the rock.

"Miura Kusarikei has won the match!" The proctor announced. The crowd cheered loudly at the exciting fight. A team of medic ninja ran out and took Moegi to be healed up. "Oh man! She lost!" Konohamaru said, disappointed. "I know. I thought she had him for a second there." Udon replied. "The fourth match will be between Udon of the Leaf Village, and Nami Awaisui of the Mist Village!" The proctor then said. "Looks like it's my turn." Udon said. "Go get 'em!" Konohamaru cheered. Udon's hair had gotten a little bit longer, so he put it in a small ponytail. He met in the middle with his opponent and the proctor. "Are you aware of the rules?" The proctor asked. They both nodded. Udon noticed that the girl's hair was light green and that her right eye was always closed as if she was squinting. She also had a slight hump on her back, but other than that she was pretty average. "Good. Now shake hands, and take five steps in opposite directions." The proctor instructed. They shook hands as told. "I'll win at all costs." Nami said plainly. "You can try." Udon replied coldly. They went to their sides. "Let the match begin!" The proctor yelled.


	13. Udon vs Nami!

Nami jumped backwards onto the pond of water in the arena. "This won't be enough." She muttered to herself. Udon ran toward Nami to attack her. "_Water Style: Exploding Water Shockwave!_" Nami called. Nami opened her mouth and an enormous amount of water rushed out of her mouth and covered the entire field. A large wave threatened to crsuh Udon so he had to find cover. By the time Udon came out from his cover, the entire arena was covered in water. "What a large amount of chakra she has." Udon speculated. Udon threw a kunai with a paper bomb attached toward Nami. "_Water Style: Water Wall!_" Nami said. A wave of water came up and shielded her from the explosion. Two clones of her then formed out of the remaining water and attacked Udon. Udon countered their attacks and destroyed them, or so he thought. The clones reformed and repaired themselves and continued to attack him. "_Summoning Jutsu!_" Udon said after performing the hand signs. Udon summoned Suterusu and flew up into the sky over the arena.

"So what's going on, boss?" Suterusu asked, knowing Udon's tendencies. "I've figured most of it out already. She just used a jutsu which covered the field in water. The water is already filled with her chakra, so she isn't having to use any extra chakra to use her techiques. She has a pretty sturdy defense, and I'm assuming that she can hold her weight in offense, too. Her srategy is to tire me out not just physically, but draining me of chakra as well because it takes chakra to stand on water." Udon said as they hovered above the arena. "_Water Style: Great Cannon Ball Jutsu!_" Nami called from below. Huge projectiles of water began to launch from the arena toward Udon and Suterusu. Suterusu flew around in circles to avoid the attacks. "So what's your plan, boss?" Suterusu asked, while dodging. "It only took me about three seconds to realize that we're in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the day. All of that water will be evaporated soon. My guess is five minutes. So, I need you to help me stall for time and then when her water has evaporated we strike." Udon stated. "Gotcha!" Suterusu replied. Udon then jumped back down to the arena.

As Udon predicted the water was beginning to evaporate, and so the arena was becoming steamy. "_Water Style: Water Fang Bullet!_" Nami said. Rotating columns of pressurized water attacked Udon from all sides. Udon tried to get away from the attacks, but they could still pop up anywhere on the arena. "_Wind Style: Hurricane Winds!_" Suterusu called from above. Suterusu outstretched his wings and then flapped them with great force. This caused a strong gale to blow all the water in the area of Udon away. After this, all the water evaporated leaving the arena very steamy. Then the steam became thicker and thicker until neither Udon or Suterusu could see. Udon looked around and called out to Suterusu, but he got no answer. "What in the world?" Udon muttered to himself. Then Udon's eyes widened because he saw something he didn't expect to see. His parents were standing in front of him.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?" Udon asked them suspiciously. They said nothing and only smiled. Then, Nami came and killed them in cold blood. Udon stood there and wacthed them scream. "I see what's going on here. I'm not stupid, this is genjutsu." Udon said. As soon as he said this the fog seemed to be lifted. Udon then saw Suterusu next to him. "Hardly anybody can stand up to my genjutsu." Nami said, suprised. "I'm a genjutsu user myself. I think I'd know it when I saw it." Udon replied with a smile. "Come on, Suterusu! Let's do this!" Udon then called out. They rushed at her from across the arena. Nami then began forming hand signs at a rapid pace. Udon and Suterusu were then in close proximity when she attacked. "_Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!_" Nami said. A large dragon attacked Udon and Suterusu. Suterusu and Udon were then gone. The crowd began to cheer, but then Udon was about to attack her from behind.

"_Water Prison Jutsu!_" Nami called. She created a large sphere of water to trap Udon. Udon tried to get out and she only laughed. "That sphere is stronger than steel. There's no way you'll break out of it. And because you can't breathe in there, you should pass out shortly." Nami said. Udon's eyes widened and he continued to try and get out, but he couldn't move. Udon just stared at her then smiled. "What are you smiling at?" Nami asked, infuriated. "You can't honestly think that I would let myself get caught in a trap like that." Udon said as he came out from behind a tree. Four walls of earth then came up around her and began to close tighter and tighter around her. "Th-This can't be real! This is just genjutsu!" Nami yelled. "No. This is real." Udon replied calmly. Nami then began screaming as she was being crushed alive by the walls. Or at least that's what she thought. It actually was a genjutsu that Udon was casting on her from the sphere. Nami passed out, causing the sphere to dissipate. "The winner is Udon!" The proctor announced. The crowd went wild with excitement after seeing his fight. Udon went back to where Konohamaru was and said nothing. "Oh come on! You can't act like whatever just happened wasn't cool as hell!" Konohamaru said excitedly. Udon just laughed and watched the next match which had the Cloud Genin Jishaku in it.

After the next two matches the first round was over. Six Genin were left. "Congratulations, to those who made it past the first round. The second round will begin tomorrow, so sleep up!" Gaara announced. Udon, Konohamaru, and Ebisu then went to make sure Moegi was okay. When they got to the hospital she was up and eating some food. "Congratulations, you guys!" Moegi said happily. "What? So you're not mad or anything?" Konohamaru asked. "No. I did my best and that's all they asked for. Plus, I'm proud of you guys." Moegi said. Udon and Konohamaru smiled from this statement. Then Udon saw the girl he just fought asleep in the next bed. "She was a very formidable opponent." Udon said. "You're the one who faced her?" Moegi asked ,suprised. "Yeah, why?" Udon asked confused. "I overheard the nurses talking and they said that she's the host of the Three Tails Beast!" Moegi said. Udon didn't say anything and seemed very suprised. "Udon, oh my gosh! You beat a freakin' host!" Konohamaru said excitedly. Konohamaru then stood up and pointed at Udon. "I've underestimated you Udon. You are truly powerful. From this moment on, we're rivals!" Konohamaru stated. Udon smiled and stood up. "Okay then. We're rivals." Udon said with a smirk. Konohamaru then ran off with Ebisu to get some training in before the morning. "He's going to be a formidable opponent too." Udon thought to himself.


	14. Ken vs Konohamaru!

The next morning, Team Ebisu went back to the arena for the second round of the tournament. Moegi couldn't participate because she had been eliminated in the first round by Miura. They went back to the spot in the stadium where they stood the day before and waited for the matches to begin. When the six participating Genin were in the arena, Kazekage Gaara stood up and got ready to start the second round. The crowd settled down and became silent to hear what the Kazekage had to say. "To start, I would like to again congratulate the Genin that made it to the second round. To overcome their opponents, they used great power, speed, skill, and will. Today, they wil be tested to their limits and will have to do anything to overcome such challenges. It excites me to say this. Let the Second Round begin!" Gaara announced. The crowd went wild and the proctor came out to announce the first match. "The first match of the second round will be between Miura Kusarikei of the Grass Village, and Jishaku Boufuu of the Cloud Village!" The proctor announced. "That Cloud guy again." Konohamaru said. "What's wrong with him? I don't understand." Ebisu questioned. "Ebisu-sensei, he and his team tried to kill us, and almost succeeded!" Konohamaru insisted. "Yeah, he definitely does not have good intentions." Udon chimed in. "I don't know who I want to win. That Cloud guy tried to kill us, but Miura defeated me yesterday. I'll just remain neutral." Moegi said. "Let the match begin!" The proctor announced.

They watched as the fight streched on. Then, there was a large explosion in the arena. When the smoke cleared, Jishaku was standing over Miura. "The winner is Jishaku Boufuu!" The proctor said. The crowd cheered loudly and waited for the next fight. Jishaku then walked up to where Team Ebisu was standing. He then glared at Konohamaru and Udon. Both of them glared back, not showing fear of the tall ninja. "The second match of the second round will be between Ken Aoenkou of the Sand Village, and Konohamaru Sarutobi of the Leaf Village!" The proctor announced. Konohamaru stopped staring at Jishaku to jump down to the arena. When he saw his opponent, he almost laughed. His opponent had a very striking appearance, with pink hair and and purple eyes. "Are you aware of the rules?" The proctor asked. They both nodded and Konohamaru fought off laughter. "Good. Now shake hands and take five steps in opposite directions." The proctor said. They shook hands then went to their spots. "Let the match begin!" The proctor yelled.

"_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru said. Konohamaru created one clone of himself which went to attack Ken. It was just then at that split second that Konohamaru realized that Ken didn't have any pouches to hold weapons. Not even pockets. It was then that Konohamaru also saw why. Ken put his hands in the sand. "_Glass Shuriken!_" Ken said. He took his hands out and shuriken made out of glass had formed. He threw them at the clone and destroyed it. He then began to throw them at Konohamaru. To counter them, Konohamaru threw his regular kunai. But, instead of the glass shuriken breaking, they actually sliced through the metal shuriken. While Konohamaru was amazed, he had no time to be and dodged the shuriken. He hid behind a tree so the shuriken wouldn't hit him. He attached a paper bomb to a kunai and threw it at Ken. "_Glass Wall!_" Ken said. The glass formed from the sand beneath his feet and shielded him from the explosion. The glass didn't break. Konohamaru and another clone then jumped out from behind the tree. Konohamaru threw a windmill shuriken over Ken. He then crouched down low to allow his clone to step on his back, so that he would be launched into the air. The windmill shuriken then transformed back into Konohamaru and attacked Ken from behind. "_Glass Katana!_" Ken yelled. He put his hand in the sand and pulled out a fully formed sword and destroyed the clone attacking him from behind. He then turned around and easily disposed of the clone attacking him from the air. The real Konohamaru then attacked him with kunai in hand. The katana and kunai clashed, but the katana sliced right through the kunai. "What?" Konohamaru said. Ken then kicked him into the arena wall.

"This isn't ordinary glass. It doesn't just break as soon as you hit it. It's formed and reinforced with my chakra. It's stronger than that wall I just kicked you into." Ken explained. "Even if, you made it through all my other techniques, I still have a layer of the strongest glass I can make covering my body. You should just give up." Ken continued. It was then that Konohamaru began to crack up. He laughed until he cried. His face then quickly became serious. "I will never give up. You must be out of your mind." Konohamaru said. Ken then attempted to strike him with the katana. Konohamaru then created a clone which shielded him from the attack so he could get away. He then stared at Ken and pointed at him. "This ends now!" Konohamaru yelled. "_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru said. Four clones of him appeared next to him. "Oh no." Ebisu moaned from his spot. "What's wrong Ebisu-sensei?" Moegi asked. "That's his limit to shadow clones. If whatever he's planning doesn't work, then he won't be able to create anymore. I hope he knows what he's doing." Ebisu explained. "I'm almost positive he does." Udon said. "Why is that?" Moegi asked. "Before this he would only create one to two clones at a time. That he has created this many tells me that he knows exactly what he has to do." Udon explained. Three of Konohamaru's clones attacked Ken. They ran around him in circles, jumping and flipping trying to hit him in the face. Ken easily disposed of them, but they served their purpose as an excellent distraction. "_Rasengan!_" Konohamaru's last clone called. The Rasengan broke through Ken's bodily layer of glass and made him drop his katana. He looked up and the real Konohamaru was coming. "_Rasengan!_" Konohamaru exclaimed. This Rasengan sent Ken flying head first into the arena wall. After this, Ken's body didn't even twitch, it just lay there on the ground.

The crowd went insane. Jumping up and down in their seats. Some booed him, but most were cheering Konohamaru's name. "The winner is Konohamaru Sarutobi!" The proctor announced. The crowd then cheered even louder. When Konohamaru went back to his team, he recieved a standing ovation. At the Chairs of the Kages there was much talk of the match. "Wow, Lady Tsunade! The Genin from your village are very impressive." Mizukage Mei Terumi said. "Thank you." Tsunade said with a smile. The new Otokage didn't say anything and just watched the arena. "He's not all that great, that kid. I need to see more skill." Tsuchikage Onoki said. "He definitely has the speed and power though. I'm sure that took some strategy too." Raikage A replied. "He reminds me a lot of Naruto." Gaara said solemnly. The rest of the Kages stopped and stared at Gaara. Tsunade and Mei agreed, but A and Onoki did not say anything. "The last match of the second round will be between Udon of the Leaf Village, and Hibiki Basho of the Sound Village!" The proctor announced. Udon went down to the arena and met with his opponent and the proctor in the middle. When he looked at his opponent he was astonished. Hibiki was blind. His eyes were blank as if they had been erased. He had silver hair that went down his back in a long ponytail. He also wore a slightly purple outfit. "Are you aware of the rules?" The proctor asked. They both nodded. "Good. Now shake hands and take five steps in the opposite direction." The proctor instructed. Udon expected shaking hands to be just a bit awkward, as Hibiki couldn't see where his hand was. But, to Udon's suprise, Hibiki went straight for Udon's hand and shook it. "Good luck to you Udon." Hibiki said with a smile. "Um.. yeah. You too." Udon said, baffled. They then walked to their spots. "Let the match begin!" The proctor yelled.


	15. Udon vs Hibiki!

Udon almost felt bad attacking someone who was blind. Then, he used deductive reasoning. "There must be something up with this guy. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made it to the Second Round." Udon reasoned with himself. Still, Udon felt like it was an unfair advantage. So, he threw one kunai towards Hibiki's chest. At first, Udon wished that he could take back his previous action, but then, Udon was amazed again. Despite Hibiki being blind, he deflected the kunai. Hibiki ran toward Udon with no doubt of his location. "He's not blind!" Udon thought to himself as he avoided Hibiki's attacks. "I know how to find out!" Udon continued in his mind. Udon attempted a genjutsu, to attack Hibiki from behind. However, this didn't even slow down Hibiki. As soon as Udon tried to move out Hibiki's range, Hibiki kicked him halfway across the arena. When Udon got up, he was puzzled. "I had already initiated the illusion. That means he truly is blind. His optic nerves didn't respond to my chakra at all." Udon thought. Udon attached a paper bomb to a kunai, and threw it toward Hibiki's feet. Hibiki's eyebrows rose, as if he knew of the paper bomb on the end. He didn't just dodge the kunai like Udon wanted. He completely moved out of the range of the explosion. Udon was baffled. "I thought maybe he was using his sense of hearing to dodge attacks, but he wouldn't have heard the paper bomb attached. Again, Hibiki was not slowed down by Udon's attack. Hibiki ran straight for Udon. "Someone must be talking to him in his ear ,through a one-way reciever." Udon concluded. When Hibiki was attacking him, Udon looked in both ears for a reciever, but didn't see one. Then Hibibki began making hand seals at an amazing speed. Before Udon could react or think, Hibiki attacked. "_Deathly Silence!_" Hibiki said very low. He struck Udon's ears, then jumped backward. Udon almost laughed because he didn't notice anything had changed at first, but then he realized he couldn't hear very well. "Wait a second." Udon said out loud. "I can't hear anything." Udon continued.

Hibiki smiled, then disappeared. Udon looked around to try and find Hibiki, but couldn't. Suddenly, Udon felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. "Ouch, what was that?" Udon thought. He looked at his shoulder and saw that three needles were in it. "I see. So he took away my hearing using some form of genjutsu, and took him self out of my line of sight, so that he could attack me and hit vital points without me even knowing until it's too late. I just need to disspell this genjutsu, with my chakra." Udon deducted. He attempted to do so, but to no avail. He still could not hear anything outside of his mind. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his thigh. He looked down ,and sure enough, there were three senbon needles in his thigh. He took the needles out of his shoulder and thigh, but still felt pain. He looked at the needles and saw poison dripping off of them. "This poses another problem. I don't know how powerful this poison is, or what it's effect on me will be. I need to figure this out and quickly." Udon thought. He ran behind the rocks and sat down. Udon bit his thumb and performed hand seals. "_Summoning Jutsu!_" Udon called. He summoned two owls, Tezema and a slightly bigger owl. They opened their mouth to greet him, but he stopped them. "Before you say anything, I can't hear you, so you'd only be wasting your breath." Udon explained. "Tezema, I need you to be my ears, or a second set of eyes. You will sit on my head, and if you see senbon needles you will tap my head in the direction they are coming from. If you see anybody that's not me or Yajiru, you slightly pull my hair in the direction of them. Got it?" Udon said. Tezema almost answered, but stopped himself and nodded. "Yajiru, when I give you the signal, which will be my index and middle finger pointing upward you will launch your genjutsu on the enemy. Got it?" Udon said. Yajiru nodded in response. "Alright, let's do this." Udon said.

Udon got up slowly because of the pain, then came out of hiding with Tezema on his head. Yajiru hid behind the rock and waited for a chance to fly into the sky unseen. Udon stood in the middle of the arena and waited for Tezema. Then, Tezema tapped his head from the left. Udon looked and successfully avoided the senbon. Then, Tezema tapped his head from behind. Udon successfully dodged those senbon, too. Udon smiled because his plan was working. Finally, Tezema tugged on Udon's hair from the northwest of where Udon was standing. In the split second that Udon looked, he saw a sliver of purple. "Tezema, get him!" Udon commanded. Tezema flew upward then hovered in the air. "_Fire Style: Owl Pellets!_" Tezema called. Tezema opened his mouth and spit out miniscule flaming bombs toward the spot where Hibiki was hiding. Hibiki must've known the attack was coming because he hopped out from his hiding place and landed on his face. "Gotcha." Udon said as he threw four kunai knives at Hibiki. Because Tezema missed at first, he then fired the attack again at the fallen Hibiki. Hibiki looked as if he would get caught in a two-part attack. "_Scream of the Banshees!_" Hibiki caled. He opened his mouth and emitted a frequency that deflected all the attacks. Udon again became baffled. Tezema landed on his shoulder and signaled that they should attack. Udon nodded and attempted to attack Hibiki. For a moment, Hibiki only stood there. Then his senses came back to him and he countered Udon's attacks. Of course Udon's attack failed, but at that moment he found maybe the only weakness Hibiki had.

"Did you just see that Tezema?" He whispered. Tezema shook his head and shrugged his shoulders in response. "His reaction to my attack this time was delayed. I think that frequency he just emitted, jammed up whatever he's using to be able to "see" me. Yajiru can use extreme frequencies too." Udon said, excitedly. At that moment, Udon's arm began to go numb and he could barely stand on his leg. "We need to hurry up and get this guy, before this poison takes full effect." Udon said. He gave the signal to Yajiru. Yajiru swooped down from the sky and readied his throat. "_Song of The Night Owl!_" Yajiru called. He made a sort of booming, hooting noise and suddenly stopped. Hibiki held his head as if he had a headache and fell to the ground. Udon's hearing came back suddenly. Hibiki clicked his tongue against his teeth over and over. At first, Udon had no idea what Hibiki was doing, but then it instantly came to him. "Echolocation." Udon said with a smile. "What?" Yajiru asked. "Like, what a bat uses to "see" in the dark. He's emitting a frequency that no one can hear. The sound waves bounce off of everything and tell him where everything is. The frequencies that both he and Yajiru used interrupted his sound waves, so he could no longer see." Udon explained. Udon kunai at Hibiki, and this time it hit him right in the chest. Hibiki instantly fell out. "The winner is Udon!" The proctor announced. The crowd cheered loudly and chanted Udon's name. "Wow. Udon truly is amazing." Konohamaru thought to himself.

The Kages were talking about the results of this match. "Now, that boy has skill!" Tsuchikage Onoki said. "His ability to strategize far surpasses even some Jonin." Gaara said. "Yes, when he comes of age, he will be a truly dangerous ninja." Mizukage Mei said. "You were right before, Mei. The Leaf Genin are amazing. It makes sense that those two are from the same team. To make up for his lack of smarts, Konohamaru has a lot of power. To make up for his lack of power, Udon uses his smarts. They balance each other out very well. Together.. they would be almost unstoppable." Raikage A said. "Is this a compliment I'm hearing from the Raikage?" Tsunade asked with a smile. Raikage A didn't answer, he only looked forward. Gaara then stood up. "That wraps up the Second Round of the last portion of the Chunin Exam. Tomorrow, we will only hold one match during the Third Round because there are only three Genin left. That's all." Gaara announced. He sat back down to adress this issue with the Kage's. "Tsunade, because your village has two Genin out of the three, you will have to choose one of them to sit out this round." Gaara said. "Udon will sit out this round. Besides, I think that Jishaku will really test Konohamaru." Tsunade immediately answered. "Does anybody object to her decision?" Gaara asked. The rest of the Kages shook their heads. "Then it is agreed. Udon will sit out the next round" Gaara said.

Udon was sent to the hospital because of the poison in his bloodstream, so Team Ebisu wanted to go see him. When they got to his room, Moegi threw her arms around him. Konohamaru rolled his eyes. "Are you okay, Udon?" Moegi asked. "I'll be fine if you let go of me." Udon said. She was squeezing him a little tightly. "Oh, I'm sorry." Moegi said, blushing. "It's fine." Udon replied with a smile. "Udon, they announced that next round you will sit out. That means that whoever wins the match between me and that Cloud guy, will have to fight you. I have made it my mission to fight you Udon!" Konohamaru ranted. Udon smiled. "I hope we get to." Udon said with a grin. Konohamaru again ran off to get in training before his fight the next day. "He's going to be the hardest person I've ever had to fight. So I'm going to need to be strong!" Konohamaru thought in his mind.


	16. Jishaku vs Konohamaru!

The next day, Team Ebisu arrived at the arena and it was packed. They saw ninjas from villages they had never even heard of. "Wow, this is a lot of people." Konohamaru commented. "Are you scared Konohamaru?" Moegi asked with a smile. "No. I feel confident." Konohamaru said sternly. The three Genin left in the tournament had been informed of the arrangements for the day's fight, so they didn't have to be called to know to be down in the arena. When Konohamaru went down, he saw the Cloud Genin Jishaku and glared at him. "Today's match will be between Konohamaru Sarutobi of the Leaf Village, and Jishaku Boufuu of the Cloud Village!" The proctor announced. The crowd cheered when both names were called. "Are you two aware of the rules?" The proctor asked. Konohamaru nodded and looked at Jishaku, who was still staring back at Konohamaru. Konohamau noticed how tall the ninja was. Konohamaru wasn't short, but the ninja was almost an entire foot taller than him. "Good. Shake hands and take five steps in opposite directions." The proctor instructed. Both Genin hesitated, but they finally shook hands and took their steps. "Good luck to both of you! Let the match begin!" The proctor announced. The crowd went wild. Jumping up and down in their seats. This caused Konohamaru to get excited as well. "It's payback time." Konohamaru stated with a smile.

Konohamaru ran full speed at Jishaku and attempted to punch him in the face. Jishaku deflected Konohamaru's attack. While Jishaku was deflecting Konohamaru's attack, Konohamaru felt a tiny jolt of electricity go through his body. "_Lightning Style: Polarization Jutsu!_" Jishaku said quietly. Konohamaru jumped back and didn't notice anything at first, but then he saw that the metal rings that were attached to Jishaku's ears pointed at Konohamaru. "That can't be good." Konohamaru thought. Jishaku then threw two kunai at Konohamaru. Konohamaru was about to jump to dodge them, but then Konohamaru remembered the fight in the Desert Basin. Konohamaru took out a kunai and tried to deflect the two coming at him, but he quickly realized that this was a dumb idea, because his kunai began trying to kill him too. "I'm gonna have to catch them." Konohamaru thought. Konohamaru caught one of the kunai with his right hand, another with his left hand, and his own with his teeth. It took Konohamaru only three seconds to realize the error he had just made. By catching the kunai that were thrown at him, he was unable to use jutsu for the moment because the kunai handles were stuck to the palms of his hands. He was unable to use any weapons because they would only backfire on him. When Konohamaru realized all of this, Jishaku smiled big then attacked Konohamaru. Jishaku ran at high speed and kicked Konohamaru in the chest. This sent Konohamaru to the ground. Jishaku took out three shuriken and just let go of them. They instantly flew toward Konohamaru's face. Thinking quickly, Konohamaru rolled over when the shuriken came close to his face. They stuck in the ground and stayed there. Konohamaru then got up and began kicking and punching Jishaku. Jishaku then pulled a kunai out with a paper bomb attached and smiled. "Crap!" Konohamaru thought as he started running. Jishaku let go of the kunai and it flew toward Konohamaru. Konohamaru ran and hid behind a tree. The kunai hit the tree and exploded.

The explosion was big and spread fire to the other trees. When the smoke cleared Konohamaru crawled out of the ashes. He noticed that the kunai were no longer stuck to him anymore. He also noticed that the crowd was cheering loudly. "Come on! _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru said. Konohamaru created one clone of himself and it ran to attack Jishaku. The clone began to hit Jishaku, and again Jishaku used the jutsu. This time, the clone's fist became stuck to Jishaku's chest plate. Jishaku began to beat the crap out of the clone. Before the clone disappeared, Jishaku's earrings stopped pointing at the clone. This knowledge was then transferred to the original. "That must be how he knows that the jutsu is still in effect. The rings are metal and so they point at the magnetized object. That may give me an advantage." Konohamaru thought. Konohamaru then created another clone to attack Jishaku. This clone threw four kunai at Jishaku. Jishaku grabbed a kunai and threw it in a random direction. The four kunai that the clone threw followed Jishaku's kunai. Jishaku then destroyed the clone of Konohamaru. The clone's knowledge was then transferred to Konohamaru. "So, he must be able to control the length and power of the jutsu. I've almost figured this out. _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru exclaimed. This time, two clones of Konohamaru were created. Both of the clones attacked Jishaku. Jishaku didn't use his jutsu this time, and used his own power to destroy the clones. "That's it! You can't magnetize more than one object at a time! It's over now. _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru said excitedly. Three clones of Konohamaru appeared.

The three clones then went into the usual attack formation. One clone crouched low to allow another clone to jump on his back and go into the air. The aerial clone then threw a windmill shuriken at Jishaku. Jishaku simply moved out of the shuriken's path. The third clone then appeared behind Jishaku. Jishaku grabbed the clone attacking him from behind, swung it around to destroy the frontal clone, then threw it at the aerial clone. _"Rasengan_!" Konohamaru said as soon as Jishaku finished. Konohamaru drove Jishaku straight into the arena wall. When the Rasengan stopped, Konohamaru tried to move, but his hand was stuck to Jishaku's chest plate. Jishaku grabbed a kunai and was about to stab Konohamaru. "_Rasengan!_" A clone said. The Rasengan hit Jishaku in the face and knocked him unconscious. "The winner is Konohamaru Sarutobi!" The proctor announced. The entire arena cheered loudly. Konohamaru walked back to his teammates. "Konohamaru, that was awesome!" Moegi said. Konohamaru didn't reply to what Moegi said and only pointed at Udon. "Tomorrow, I'm not going to pull any punches! I will defeat you by any means necessary!" Konohamaru said. Udon smiled and walked away. The Kages were talking about the match between Jishaku and Konohamaru. "That was skill!" Tsuchikage Onoki said. "He had to be skilled to beat Jishaku. That's not an easy fight." Raikage A said. "I am very impressed by this generation of Leaf Genin." The Otokage said. Everyone stopped because that was the first time they had heard the Otokage speak. "I too am impressed by the Leaf Genin. Tomorrow's match will probably be the most exciting one." Gaara agreed. "I think both of them deserve Chunin." Mizukage Mei said. "I would give Chunin to all of them if I could." Tsunade said. The other Kages nodded in agreement. Gaara then stood up to speak to the crowd. "Tomorrow is the last match of the last portion of the Chunin Exam and the promotion ceremony. That is all." Gaara announced as he left. Everybody left the arena. Udon walked back to where his teammates were and confronted Konohamaru. "I won't pull any punches either. I will come at you full steam. Get ready, because tomorrow will be one of the hardest fights of your life." Udon said.


	17. Udon vs Konohamaru! The Final Match!

The next morning, Konohamaru got up before the sunrise and jogged around the Sand Village. "This is it, Konohamaru. This is the big day!" Konohamaru said to himself. Konohamaru was more excited than he had ever been. He never expected to be in the final round of the Chunin Exams fighting against Udon. He really didn't expect Udon to be good, no, amazing at fighting. "Udon's right. This is going to be one of the hardest fights of my life. I'm terrible at genjutsu! Oh no! I'm going to lose in one second!" Konohamaru thought. Konohamaru suddenly was very nervous. He also had never been so nervous before in his life. He went back to the place where he and his team had been sleeping, and saw that Udon was awake. There was still an hour before they had to be at the arena. He walked into the place and locked eyes with Udon. Udon seemed to be so calm and unaffected by knowing that Konohamaru was his opponent. Konohamaru tried his hardest to keep a straight face, but his nerves took over and he became nauseous. He ran to the bathroom and began to throw up. When Konohamaru went to the bathroom, Udon let out a long breath. Udon was also nervous. He was trying to eat, but couldn't muster up any hunger. "Come on, I need to eat or I won't be at full strength! And, if I'm not at full strength, then Konohamaru will tear me apart." Udon thought to himself. He then had to get his composure back because Konohamaru was out of the bathroom. Ebisu and Moegi were now awake and they watched as both Udon and Konohamaru acted very strange through their nerves. "I've never seen them act so strange." Moegi whispered to Ebisu. "And, did you notice that Udon's nose has started running again?" Ebisu asked with a smile. Moegi looked and sure enough a large stream of snot was flowing from his nose. "That's so gross." Moegi said. Ebisu laughed, then they all got ready.

At the arena, there was a humongous crowd. There weren't even enough seats for all of the people there to watch the fight. This only caused Udon and Konohamaru to get even more nervous. "Oh no! All these people are gonna see me lose in one second. I'll be the laughing stock of the ninja world!" Konohamaru thought to himself. "This is great! Now all of these people are gonna see me getting my ass handed to me. I'll never live it down!" Udon thought to himself. Before the match started, someone tapped Udon on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Hibiki. "Good luck to you, Udon." Hibiki said with a smile. "Thank you." Udon replied, stunned. Then the exam proctor walked out to the middle of the arena and the crowd went nuts. "Gosh, the fight hasn't even started yet and they can't get the crowd to stop yelling." Moegi thought out loud. When the crowd was hushed enough so that the proctor could be heard, he spoke. "This is the final match of the last round of the Chunin Exams! The final match will be between Konohamaru Sarutobi and Udon of the Leaf Village!" The proctor announced. Udon and Konohamaru slowly walked down into the arena. They met in the middle with the proctor. "Are you two aware of the rules?" The proctor asked. Udon nodded then looked at Konohamaru. Konohamaru had his eyes closed and was listening to the cheering of the crowd. "Go, Konohamaru!" Some would cheer. "Get him, Udon!" The others would cheer. Konohamaru finally nodded his head after calming his nerves. "Good. Now shake hands and take five steps in the opposite direction." The proctor instructed. Konohamaru looked up at Udon and shook his hand. Not a word was exchanged during the shake and they took their spots. "Let the match begin!" The proctor announced.

As soon as the match began, Konohamaru charged Udon. Udon struggled to avoid Konohamaru's attacks, but Konohamaru was a whole lot faster. Udon took several blows to the chest, then was sent flying halfway across the arena by a kick. "Oh man. I forgot to account for his taijutsu skills. I have to start recalculating." Udon thought as he got up. Udon attached a paper bomb to one of his kunai and threw it toward Konohamaru. Konohamaru threw a windmill shuriken at Udon. "What?" Udon asked himself as he saw the explosion consume Konohamaru. Then, the shuriken transformed into the real Konohamaru. "I forgot to account for that too!" Udon thought as Konohamaru began to attack him. Udon had to think quickly, because Konohamaru had no intention to stop anytime soon. He casted a brief genjutsu that showed him getting away. Konohamaru followed the illusion foolishly. "I need to calm my nerves so that I can come up with a strategy. I'm going to need help preoccupying Konohamaru." Udon thought. "_Summoning Jutsu!_" Udon shouted. He bit his thumb and performed the correct hand signs, then there was a large puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared three owls had appeared. Udon summoned Tezema, Yajiru, and Suterusu. "Yajiru and Tezema, distract Konohamaru!" Udon commanded. Udon then jumped on the back of Suterusu and they flew above the arena. "So, what's going on, boss?" Suterusu asked. "I'm nervous." Udon answered plainly. "That doesn't sound like you, sir." Suterusu replied. "The problem is that I'm a strategist, but my opponent is one of the hardest people to strategize against. Konohamaru is so spontaneous, you can never really predict what he's going to do next. And, to top it all off, he's physically faster and stronger than me." Udon confessed. "But, there is not a person I know that is smarter than you, sir. Use your smarts to defeat him. Right now, he is just another opponent." Suterusu said. "You know what? You're right, Suterusu. Help me come up with a plan." Udon said eagerly.

"_Fire Style: Owl Pellets!_" Tezema called. Tezema spit fiery owl pellets at Konohamaru. Konohamaru attempted to dodge the attack, but following the projectile was always a large explosion. The explosions would make him fall to the ground or send him flying into a wall. The explosions also created thick black smoke, which when breathed in was toxic. "What am I doing? I'm wasting time down here while Udon just sits up there. I need to stop treating him like a friend. He is my opponent right now." Konohamaru muttered to himself. Konohamaru had already suffered the effects of the jutsu of Yajiru, so when Yajiru opened up to use it again, Konohamaru struck. "_Shadow Clone Jutsu!_" Konohamaru said. Konohamaru created one clone that went and distracted Tezema. Konohamaru was then trying to avoid Yajiru's jutsu for as long as he could. Then, Konohamaru heard Tezema use its jutsu close by. After one of the explosions, Konohamaru ran into the smoke and waited for Yajiru to follow. Like he planned, Yajiru followed. He then stabbed the bird and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Konohamaru's clone followed Konohamaru into the smoke. "Got you now!" Tezema called out. The next thing Udon saw was Yajiru come flying out of the smoke and Konohamaru stab Tezema. Yajiru flew up toward Udon. "What is it Yajiru?" Udon asked. Yajiru then transformed into Konohamaru. Konohamaru tackled Udon off the back of Suterusu and they were sent into a spiral headed for the ground. "He has no intentions of cushioning his fall. This was planned, which means this is a clone." Udon thought. He then dispelled the clone by punching it. Suterusu swiftly flew down to catch Udon before he hit the ground. "Do you remember the plan?" Udon asked. "Yes sir!" Suterusu replied. "Good. Let's do this." Udon said.

Udon threw a smoke bomb straight to the ground. At the moment it was nowhere within Konohamaru's area, so he had no reason to move. When the smoke exploded out Suterusu swooped low in front of it. "_Wind Style: Hurricane Winds!_" Suterusu called out. He flapped his wings with great force and forced the smoke into the vicinity of Konohamaru. Konohamaru could not see anything except smoke in front of him. He tried to jump out of the smoke, but apparently the smoke was covering the arena. Suddenly, Udon appeared in front of Konohamaru. Konohamaru tried to attack him, but chains shot out of the ground and latched on to his hands. They pulled him down so that he could not move. Konohamaru struggled, but couldn't get up. "I've got you now." Udon said. He then pulled out a kunai and stabbed Konohamaru in the stomach. Udon knew it was a genjutsu so he didn't hold back. He shoved kunai through Konohamaru's hands. Konohamaru screamed, and Udon laughed to keep up the illusion. But, then Konohamaru disappeared and the illusion disolved. "What? It was just a clone! Suterusu!" Udon yelled. "_Rasengan!_" Konohamaru called out. Udon was Konohamaru's planned target, but Suterusu shielded him. The jutsu instantly caused Suterusu to disappear. "That was close. He's good." Udon thought. "Man, he even accounted for the sneak attack. He's good." Konohamaru thought to himself. Udon got another plan and charged Konohamaru. This seemed to stun Konohamaru, which was the desired effect. Udon began to hit Konohamaru, but then he disappeared.

"That was a clone too!" Udon cried out. He looked around and didn't see anything. "_Rasengan!_" Konohamaru yelled from above. Udon looked up and saw that Konohamaru was coming at high speed toward him. Udon had around three seconds to get up and move. Konohamaru's Rasengan collided with the ground and caused dirt, sand and debris to fly into the air. "How far ahead did he plan?" Udon asked himself. "Dammit! I missed!" Konohamaru scolded himself. Udon then smiled and began to laugh a little. "What the hell is so funny?" Konohamaru asked. "You really are something else, Konohamaru." Udon said. "What do you mean?" Konohamaru asked, seemingly offended. "I'm proud to be able to be on the same team as a ninja of your caliber." Udon said. Konohamaru smiled at Udon's words. "You're a great ninja too, Udon. I've spent whole nights trying to figure out how to defeat you." Konohamaru said. This caused Udon to laugh a little more. The crowd began to boo them for not fighting. "I guess we better finish this up then, huh?" Udon asked. "Yeah. Let's do this." Konohamaru said, mocking Udon. Konohamaru then held out his palm and began to gather up as much chakra as he could muster. There was a large, but unstable ball of chakra growing in Konohamaru's palm. "Oh man this is it. I've been saving this jutsu as a last resort, but I guess this is a last resort." Udon muttered to himself. Konohamaru held out the large ball of chakra. "I swear that Naruto had a name for this one, but I've forgotten it." Konohamaru said out loud. He thought for a moment while Udon began to do hand signs. "Oh yeah that's it! _Great Ball Rasengan!_" Konohamaru called out. He ran at full speed toward Udon. "_Summoning Jutsu: Owl Guardian!_" Udon called out when Konohamaru got close. There was a large explosion with a lot of chakra and dust. The crowd had to look away because of the amount of light that was produced by the explosion.

When the explosion ended and the smoke cleared, the crowd looked back down at the arena. In front of Udon, there was a large stone owl. The owl had served its purpose to shield Udon, but had suffered severe damage from Konohamaru's jutsu. It was missing half of its face and one wing and the stone was cracking and falling apart all over. It eventually did fall apart and disappear. Konohamaru and Udon were exhausted. Neither of them moved from where they were standing. They looked each other in the eyes. Konohamaru grinned a little bit. Then, he took a step forward toward Udon. This surprised Udon and he even looked a little scared. Konohamaru then tried to take another step, but fell to the ground and passed out. The crowd was silent and you could even hear Gaara hold his breath. "The winner is Udon!" The proctor announced. The crowd went absolutely nuts. No one person was sitting in their seat. The medic ninja came out and treated Konohamaru instantly. Udon smiled then, he too passed out.

"That was a truly inspiring fight." Gaara said. "I would call that a tie." Raikage A said. "The amount of chakra that on boy has is unbelievable for a genin." Tsuchikage Onoki said. "I think both of them deserve Chunin." Mizukage Mei said. "Definitely." The Otokage agreed. Tsunade smiled because she was proud of her up and coming ninja. Gaara then stood up and calmed the crowd. "The Promotion Ceremony will begin shortly after the fighters are treated." Gaara announced. When Gaara sat down he noticed an ANBU approach Tsunade. "Lady Tsunade, I have just received word that our village is now in possesion of the Two-Tails beast." Shikamaru whispered to Tsunade. "Kakashi wouldn't have let something like that happen would he?" Tsunade asked in response. "From what I understand, he led the team that captured it." Shikamaru answered. Tsunade then calmly stood up. "I'm sorry, I won't be here for the ceremony. I have matters to attend to back at the village." Tsunade said as she walked away.


	18. An Act Of War

"This is gay!" Konohamaru shouted as he watched the ceremony. There were women dancing and fireworks that night during the ceremony.

"Shut up, Konohamaru! This is an honor!" Moegi scolded. The ceremony was for all the Genin who were promoted to Chunin after the exam. Moegi wasn't named Chunin after the exams. However, she was not angry. Her opponent hadn't been named Chunin either. The Genin promoted to Chunin were Hibiki of the Sound, Jishaku of the Cloud, Nami of the Mist, and of course Udon and Konohamaru of the Leaf.

"I'm very proud of you. I'm proud of all of you." Ebisu said with a smile. They continued to watch and enjoy the ceremony for the rest of the night. In the morning they would be heading back to the Leaf Village.

Meanwhile, the next morning in the Leaf Village, Tsunade just arrived back in the village. She immediately heads to her mansion to look for Kakashi.

"Kakashi! Where are you?" Tsunade asked infuriated.

"I am here, Lady Tsunade." Kakashi said quietly. Tsunade ran up to Kakashi and held him up by his throat.

"What were you thinking going against my decision?" Tsunade asked even more frustrated.

"It was for the good of the ninja world, Lady Tsunade." Kakashi claimed boldly.

Tsunade raised her eyebrows and seemed to become even more enraged. "How does this help the ninja world, Kakashi?" Tsunade asked with serious anger.

"By balancing the military power between nations, Tsunade-sama. Plus,.." Kakashi paused because someone came through the door.

It was Shizune who had just caught up to Tsunade. She caught sight of Kakashi being held up by his throat and she gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked while blushing.

Tsunade realized why Shizune seemed so scared and dropped Kakashi to the floor. "I'll be finished in a moment, Shizune. Please let me have a moment with Kakashi." Tsunade ordered.

"Yes Lady Tsunade!" Shizune said quickly as she ran off. "You may continue, Kakashi." Tsunade said when Shizune disappeared.

"The nations weren't the only ones hunting down the tailed beasts. I heard from an intel squad that Kabuto was sighted in the area of the Two-Tails, within the Land of Fire." Kakashi continued.

Tsunade stared at Kakashi with fear in her eyes. "Kakashi, is this true?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes ma'am, Lady Tsunade." Kakashi replied.

"Then, we must contact the Feudal Lord and let him be made aware of this." Tsunade replied calmly. "What have you done with the Two-Tails in the mean time?" Tsunade asked.

"It has already been sealed within a child that no one would think of." Kakashi answered solemnly.

Tsunade's eyebrows twitched. "Who is this child?" Tsunade asked.

"It is the child of Asuma and Kurenai. However, don't worry, because Kurenai is aware of this." Kakashi replied.

Tsunade sat and thought for a moment as she looked out of her window. "Send for Shikamaru when you leave, Kakashi." Tsunade announced clearly.

Kakashi left through the doors and Tsunade waited for Shikamaru. She waited for a few minutes and suddenly she heard the faintest rustle.

"Shikamaru, I'm glad to see you." Tsunade said without looking at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru nodded silently. "You rang?" Shikamaru asked as he came closer to Tsunade.

"I need you to establish a link with the Fire Daimyo, so that I may speak with him." Tsunade ordered.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade." Shikamaru replied while in front of Tsunade. However, when he was out of Tsunade's range he continued with, "How troublesome." Shikamaru went to a room with a large screen for establishing an audio/visual link with the Fire Daimyo. He didn't have to explain himself to the ninja that worked there. They recognized his mask and knew he was one of the head ANBU. He walked up to the screen and pressed the button to establish a link with the Daimyo. It made a ringing noise and a picture began to come through. When the picture was fully focused, Shikamaru saw people in the background panicking.

"This is really bad! What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?" The person closest to the screen was heard saying.

Shikamaru tried, but he couldn't find a person to communicate with. Finally, a person looked up and saw that a link with the Leaf Village was established. "What's going on right now?" Shikamaru asked.

"Something really bad just happened!" The person said in reply.

Behind his mask, Shikamaru was becoming fed up. "That can wait! Right now, I need to speak to the Fire Daimyo. Tell him that it's urgent." Shikamaru demanded.

"Well, that's gonna be a problem. You see, the Fire Daimyo was just assassinated.." The person explained.

Shikamaru was unprepared to receive such information. "How did this happen? What about the Twelve Guardians?" Shikamaru asked.

"They have all been killed too. This all happened this morning." The person explained.

"Any idea who could've done this?" Shikamaru continued to ask.

"Not a single clue. The assassin didn't show any ties to any known countries. The only thing we ever saw of him was his cloak. Well, I guess the only clue we have is that the Daimyo was killed by a bite to the neck by what is assumed to be a snake." The person vented.

Shikamaru listened to what the person on the screen told him. He then suddenly turned off the link and ran at full speed to the Hokage's Mansion. He came barrelling through the doors to Tsunade's office.

"Did you establish a link with the Fire Daimyo?" Tsunade asked nonchalantly as she put on her coat.

"The Fire Daimyo was assassinated this morning." Shikamaru told Tsunade.

Tsunade's face instantly turned pale as her eyes displayed a great amount of fear. "Tell all Chunin, Jonin and ANBU in the village to prepare for battle! Tell the guards at the gates that no one goes in or out of Konoha without consulting me first! This is an act of war!" Tsunade shouted. Shikamaru nodded and left to carry out Tsunade's decree. Tsunade stood there looking out at the village. She gritted her teeth and slammed her fist on her desk causing a section of it to break.

Elsewhere, Team Ebisu was on its way back to the Leaf Village.

"I can't wait to get back home! I haven't been there in so long! Ebisu-sensei, do I really have to wear this itchy vest?" Konohamaru rambled.

"Yes, Konohamaru, just wear the freaking vest!" Moegi yelled. She was becoming very annoyed with Konohamaru since the Chunin Exams ended.

"I like the vest. I think it's kind of cool." Udon said.

"Who cares what you think, Udon?" Konohamaru shouted as he got in Udon's face.

Then all three of them stopped bickering when they noticed their teacher hadn't said anything since they left.

"What's wrong, Ebisu-sensei?" Moegi asked becoming concerned.

Ebisu looked at all three of them and swallowed hard. "The closer we get to the village, the more I keep getting this bad feeling." Ebisu explained.

"Then that's more reason to stop playing and hurry to get back." Udon said matter-of-factly.

Moegi and Ebisu nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's hurry and get back home!" Konohamaru yelled.


	19. A Brush With Darkness

On the first day after Tsunade's decree, the entire village was silent. Even the people who weren't ninja seemed to be anticipating something happening. The Ninja Academy in the village had postponed school until Tsunade's decree was lifted. Every ninja in the village was on duty and waiting for something to happen. Citizens were waiting and ready to be evacuated. Even though all these preparations were made, nothing happened all day. In fact, towards the end of the day, kids were outside playing and people were about shopping and what not.

Shikamaru walked into Tsunade's office to discuss what to do next. "Lady Tsunade, many ninja are requesting to take a break as it is getting later." Shikamaru insisted.

"What time is it?" Tsunade asked in response.

"It's around 10 p.m." Shikamaru answered.

Tsunade thought for a moment and slowly nodded her head. "Yes, Chunin and Jonin may take a break and return to duties in the morning. However, all ANBU squads are to remain on watch." Tsunade agreed with a slight smile. She suspected that Shikamaru was one of the ninja that wanted a break.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade." Shikamaru said with a nod before he left. As soon as he left, Shikamaru began spreading the news to other ninja who seemed to be relieved. He went to his old post and stood up there watching the village. He watched as the last of the citizens closed up for the night and turned off their house lights. Making sure the coast was clear, Shikamaru removed his mask and sat down to relax. "Finally, some fresh air!" Shikamaru thought to himself as he stretched himself out. Shikamaru sat for hours on top of that building, anticipating what he would do if an enemy tried to attack the Leaf Village. For a moment, Shikamaru actually started to doze off with the lack of action after midnight.

Then, Shikamaru heard a loud explosion behind him. He looked at a watch and realized he had been sleeping for nearly an hour because it was 3 a.m. Then, Shikamaru looked up and gasped in disbelief at what he saw. The prison was burned down to the ground and escaped fugitives were running about. He looked and saw that ANBU members were trying to deal with the problem, but he quickly realized that they were outnumbered. He also realized that this was just a diversion.

Shikamaru got up and put on his mask and started on his way to inform Lady Tsunade. On his way, Shikamaru was stopped by two other member of the ANBU wearing a snake and hawk mask.

"Captain, what has happened? No shinobi in any of the divisions saw an enemy approach the village." The ANBU with the hawk mask said.

"At the moment, I am unsure of the current situation, but I warn both of you to be wary. This is most likely a diversion being used by our enemy. Hoheto, I want you both to stay on the lookout for anyone unfamiliar to you." Shikamaru replied.

Hoheto nodded his head in understanding and activated his Byakugan. Shikamaru was about to continue on his way when the snake-masked ANBU grabbed his arm. "Wait Captain, we need your help with the prisoners. They outnumber us greatly and some are of great strength." He said.

"Right now, informing Lady Tsunade is my primary concern. When I have done that, I will come and help with gathering the prisoners." Shikamaru declared.

"But Shikamaru, what about the prisoners that are escaping the village?" The snake-masked ANBU asked stopping Shikamaru again.

Shikamaru stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look at Hoheto. "Hoheto, forget my previous orders. Please, go and inform Lady Tsunade of our current situation. I have business to handle." Shikamaru commanded.

"Does that mean you're going to round up the escaped convicts?" The snake-masked ANBU asked.

Shikamaru threw his mask to the ground, and kicked the the snak mask off of the ANBU's face. When the face was revealed, Hoheto began to tremble in fear. It was Kabuto's face under the mask, with an evil look in his eyes and a cynical grin.

"Shikamaru, you're intelligence never ceases to amaze me. How could you have known it was me?" Kabuto said with a delightful giggle.

"There isn't a member of my squad that calls me by my name." Shikamaru replied simply.

Kabuto smacked himself in the forehead and laughed. "Of course! How silly of me to make that mistake." Kabuto said with a grin.

Shikamaru nodded at Hoheto to leave and inform Lady Tsunade and Hoheto slowly nodded his head back in understanding. Kabuto quickly picking up on this, tried to shove a scalpel through Hoheto's throat. However, when Kabuto got too close, tentacle-like shadows came from the ground and threw him back.

"Hoheto, go now!" Shikamaru yelled in a fury. Hoheto quickly disappeared into the direction of the Hokage's mansion in response.

Kabuto began to giggle again. "Come now Shikamaru, you can't seriously believe that you can defeat me." Kabuto insisted. Shikamaru offered no response and only glared at Kabuto.

"Alright, if that's how you're gonna be.." Kabuto said as he slapped the ground where he was standing. Four caskets came rumbling out of the ground in front of him. When the caskets opened, four menacing figures were standing inside. Shikamaru quickly recognized them as the Sound Four.

"I don't have time for this." Shikamaru muttered to himself. Shikamaru quickly remembered the abilities of the four and began making a strategy.

"Dismantle him, limb for limb!" Kabuto screeched to them. All four of them instantly jumped into action. Shikamaru had already gone through the whole fight with them seven times in his head. Shikamaru grabbed the trench knives he received from Asuma and flowed his chakra into them. He threw one in the direction of Kabuto and one in the direction of Sakon. The one thrown at Kabuto seemingly missed and hit the ground beside him. The one thrown at Sakon pierced him threw the chest and to the ground next to Kidomaru.

Kabuto laughed at Shikamaru's missed attempt and was about to continue on his way, but he realized he couldn't move. Kabuto furiously tried to understand what was going on. Kidomaru continued trying to attack Shikamaru, but he also realized that he was immobilized. Kabuto quickly figured out that it was the knives piercing the shadows in their spots. Jirobo attempted to slam his fist into the back of Shikamaru's head, but Shikamaru had accounted for this. Shikamaru simply used a substitution to appear behind Jirobo and place an exploding tag on his back. Shikamaru jumped out of the way, and the explosion sent Jirobo flying into Tayuya.

Realizing that all four of them had been immobilized for the moment, he quickly jumped into action. "Ninja Art: Shadow Possesion Jutsu!" Shikamaru called softly. As his shadow crept slowly towards Kabuto, he noticed that the Sound Four were activating and progressing their cursed seals. The four of them were at the second progression of their cursed seals and were no longer immobilized, but Shikamaru's shadow had almost reached Kabuto.

"Get him!" Kabuto shouted. All four of them, in their enhanced states, charged at Shikamaru. Shikamaru's shadow finally reached Kabuto, and he began to perform hand signs. The Sound Four were almost upon him, when he completed the dog, horse, and tiger seals causing Kabuto to do the same.

"Release!" Shikamaru exclaimed loudly. In an instant the four, stopped attacking and turned to dust, with corpses left in the dust.

"I was unaware that my techniques had become so well known." Kabuto said with a chuckle. Shikamaru retracted his shadow, and picked up the trench knife that was pinning down Sakon and Kidomaru. He eased the knife onto his fist and began to channel his chakra into it. However, the knife being used to pin Kabuto's shadow was strategically charged with more chakra to keep him in place.

"What is your purpose for being in the Leaf Village?" Shikamaru asked as he began to walk toward Kabuto.

"I'm unsure if you would really like to know the answer to that question." Kabuto replied with a sinister grin.

"That's good eneough for me. I could care less what your plans are. Because whatever they are, they stop here!" Shikamaru exclaimed. As he said this, a hand came from the shadows holding the other trench knife to Kabuto's neck. "Don't even think about it. If you move even more abrupt than taking a breath, you will die." Shikamaru stated plainly. Shikamaru was then in Kabuto's face and was about to stab him in the stomach.

"Shikamaru, do you honestly believe that I'm going to allow you to kill me?" Kabuto chuckled. Just then, a long snake protruded from his skin and snatched the trench knife out of the shadow's hand. Another snake then branched off of that one and tried to attack Shikamaru. Shikamaru attempted to jump out of the range of the snake, but it just continued to extend. So, he sliced the head off of the snake with his knife.

"The reason I am here, is to retrieve that which is mine." Kabuto said with a sneer.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked angrily.

Before Kabuto replied he made his snakes disintegrate. "I am here to retrieve the daughter of Asuma Sarutobi, and the new host of the Two-Tailed Cat." Kabuto explained.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth really hard. "Not this nonsense again. I thought we had dealt with all the creeps doing this sort of stuff." Shikamaru thought to himself.

Five sinister, black cobras protruded from Kabuto's back and glared at Shikamaru. "I will not stop until I have achieved my goals. And, those who get in my way will be completely annihilated!" Kabuto shouted. At that moment, the cobras on Kabuto's back extended at a great speed toward Shikamaru. They tried attack his feet, arms, head and torso. But, Shikamaru dodged almost all of the attacks. One of them came close to biting Shikamaru's neck, but he formed a single hand seal, and a shadow came from the ground and stabbed it through the mouth. However, then another cobra came from out of the ground and tried to bite Shikamaru's arm. Shikamaru simply pulled the trench knife out and decapitated all five of the cobras.

Shikamaru put on a small grin about his small victory, but it was quickly ended as he watched in horror while the bodies of the cobras began to generate new heads. Shikamaru jumped a good distance away from Kabuto. He then reached to his waist and pulled a large katana out of a sheath. "Looks like its time to stop fooling around, this is serious." Shikamaru said as he watched Kabuto from relatively far.

Elsewhere, Team Ebisu had taken up camp for the night in the forest. They were going to rest and make it to the Leaf Village the next day. However, Ebisu couldn't sleep very well due to his feelings about impending darkness. He sat up in the middle of the night and put his shades on. "What's going on sensei?" Moegi asked as he woke her up.

"This feeling is getting worse. We all need to get to the Leaf Village now." Ebisu explained in a slightly panicked voice.

"Fine by me, I couldn't sleep anyways." Konohamaru said.

"Yes, I've started to feel the same way as Ebisu-sensei. We need to go." Udon agreed. So they packed up their things and began on their way to the village unaware of the evil that they were destined to come in contact with.


	20. In The Shadows of Fire

Shikamaru stood watching Kabuto in silence. The silence was only interrupted by the sighing of the trees as the wind blew. The night was only illuminated by the burning of the prison, faintly spitting flames at the sky in the background. Shikamaru closed his eyes and inhaled deeply in sync with the breaths of the forest. He exhaled, and in a split-second he erupted into battle.

At an amazing speed, Shikamaru closed the gap between he and Kabuto. He swung his blade in an attempt to slice Kabuto in half. Kabuto swiftly avoided the attack and sneered at Shikamaru.

"You'll have to do much better than that." Kabuto said with a giggle. But, instantly after he said this, the shadow of Shikamaru holding his sword came from the ground and impaled Kabuto. However, Kabuto's smile did not fade.

"That's a cool trick, but you're still going to have to do much better." Kabuto said as he disappeared. In his place was actually a mass of black snakes that struck at Shikamaru. However, instead of running, Shikamaru threw a flash bomb at the ground. Momentarily blinded, the snakes stopped trying to bite Shikamaru. This also served as a diversion for Shikamaru to grab his other trench knife without being seen by Kabuto.

Shikamaru looked for Kabuto and saw his cloak, but he wasn't fooled by Kabuto's childish tactics. He was aware that Kabuto was trying to spring a trap, but he decided to play along. "Kabuto, stop playing games, I can see you hiding over there. However, before I kill you, let me ask you something. How did you know who the host of the Two-Tails was?" Shikamaru asked.

For a brief moment, there was no reply, but then there was a slight giggle. "I completely fooled the Leaf Village for my own gain. I was aware that the Leaf Village Intel Squads were closely watching my steps and I decided to use that to my advantage. Instead of having a long and drawn out battle with a demon, I acted as if I were searching for the demon, to provoke the Leaf Village into sealing the demon up for me." Kabuto explained.

Shikamaru thought about this for a moment and realized that there were parts of the story missing. "If that's true, then what was your purpose for murdering the Fire Daimyo?" Shikamaru insisted. However , there was no answer to that question. This seemingly angered Shikamaru and he pulled out a kunai attached to a seal.

"Answer me!" Shikamaru shouted as he threw the kunai at the Kabuto fake. As Shikamaru thought, Kabuto tried to ambush him from behind. In reaction, Shikamaru pulled his katana out again and swung at Kabuto. Instead, he sliced the head off of four snakes that protruded from Kabuto's back. Kabuto simply punched Shikamaru in the chest and sent him barreling into the home of a Leaf Village resident.

The residents screamed in terror. "I'm very sorry. I will pay for this personally." Shikamaru said as he tried to stand up. But, he realized that none of his ligaments were working correctly. He tried to move his right finger and found that his left eye lid was twitching.

While this was going on, Kabuto had appeared at the hole that was created by Shikamaru's body. The residents of the home cowered in fear of the man they saw standing in the hole in the wall. "This is the end, Shikamaru." Kabuto said as he pulled out a small dagger. But, when he said this, a small child ran out and stood in front of Shikamaru. It was a little girl, that could be no older than four years of age, and no taller than Shikamaru's knee. She was wearing a small necklace that shined violently in the small amount of moonlight.

"Don't you dare hurt him! He is a ninja of the Leaf Village!" The little girl proclaimed. Kabuto looked at her and smiled. He kneeled down and looked her right in the eyes. Then, a cobra came out the back of his cloak and bit her on the neck. She didn't say a word and only fell to the ground, dead.

"My baby! My baby!" The mother screamed. Kabuto looked at her and the father with a smile and two cobras that had seemingly been behind them the whole time, bit them on the necks and killed them.

Shikamaru saw this and his eyes grew abnormally wide. "You monster! What have you done?" Shikamaru asked. He was shaking and desperately trying to move so that he could kill Kabuto.

"I told you already, Shikamaru. I don't care about these lowly villagers. Anything and everything that gets in my way will be destroyed, including you." Kabuto said with a mocking tone.

Elsewhere in the village, Hoheto had just made it to Tsunade's estate.

"What's going on? And, where is Shikamaru?" Tsunade asked as soon as he was there.

Hoheto was a bit taken aback by Lady Tsunade because she was in nothing, but a bath robe. However, he cast aside his pervertedness at the moment because of the seriousness of the situation. "The village jail has been set to flames and all of the convicts have escaped. We believe that this was done by Kabuto Yakushi, but Shikamaru is dealing with him at the moment." Hoheto explained.

"Oh no, this is very bad." Tsunade said as she began to get dressed.

"I know, we must deal with the convicts immediately..." Hoheto started, not quite understanding.

"No, you idiot! I'm not sure if Shikamaru can defeat Kabuto. Kabuto is at a level beyond that of Orochimaru. We need to rush to his assistance quickly." Tsunade said, cutting off Hoheto.

Shikamaru listened to the words that Kabuto had just said over and over again in his head. He replayed the death of the little girl and her parents a million times. Almost instantaneously, Shikamaru let out a battle cry and stood up. Kabuto seemed to be very surprised by this, but didn't move from his spot. All of the shadows in the dark room converged and attacked Kabuto. They forced him through the roof and back outside.

"I can not forgive you for what you have done here! You must die here!" Shikamaru proclaimed as he grabbed both of his trench knives. Before Kabuto even had time to think, Shikamaru was upon him and preparing to slash at him. Quickly reacting, Kabuto forces himself to a safe distance. Or, so he thought. When he was seemingly out of range, he noticed a cut on the tip of his nose.

"How is that even remotely possible? I'm at the least, 5 meters away from you." Kabuto asked with a hint of fear. However, Shikamaru was silent and only glared at Kabuto directly in the eyes. Very suddenly, a shadow slithered out of the hole caused by Kabuto's body when he was forced out of the roof. The shadow violently attempted to catch him, but Kabuto stubbornly evaded. Kabuto soon realized that he was being forced into a trap. Shikamaru was charging at Kabuto from the complete opposite direction of the shadow which was at an angle. He couldn't escape to the front and behind him was the edge of the roof, where he could possibly fall and have further complications.

"Just die!" Shikamaru exclaimed as he swung his arm to strike Kabuto. Kabuto quickly made a decision and acted upon it. He hopped into the air to avoid the two-way attack and began to make hand signs.

"Corrosive Cloud!"Kabuto called as he exhaled a stream of yellow gas from his mouth. A mass of shadows collected around Shikamaru and formed an all-around shield. The fog was dense around Shikamaru, but eventually it cleared. But, Shikamaru was still surrounded by the shadows. Kabuto landed in front of the mass of shadows and stared with a peculiar grin.

"You can't..." Kabuto started, but was interrupted by a huge blade of chakra erupting from the mass of shadows. Kabuto ducked and rolled backwards to dodge the frontal attack. There was a brief moment of peace, but then Shikamaru came flying through the roof from under Kabuto. Kabuto was unprepared in every way, and it was all he could do to avoid having his head chopped off. Instead, Shikamaru stabbed right through Kabuto's left pectoral muscle. Coincidentally, Kabuto was then binded to the spot where he stood by Shikamaru's shadow. Then, a replica of Shikamaru, composed entirely of shadows emerged from the shield of shadows and approached Kabuto with Shikamaru's other trench knife in hand.

Kabuto quickly figured out what was going to happen and reacted. He opened his mouth and cobras began to pour from his throat. Sickeningly seeming to come up ten at a time. The cobras darted toward Shikamaru. who attempted to dodge this attack by jumping back. This was just as Kabuto had predicted and it caused Kabuto to be free to move again, and the replica of Shikamaru to freeze in place.

Shikamaru cut the heads off of many snakes, but one out of the bunch managed to get through and bite Shikamaru on his right shoulder. "Shit! That hurts like hell. I can already feel the poison coarsing through my veins." Shikamaru thought to himself. As Shikamaru writhed in agaony, Kabuto tried to jump off the building and escape. Seeing this, Shikamaru made his shadow replica throw the trench knife toward Kabuto. The knife barely missed by an inch and struck right behind where Kabuto was trying to run. Kabuto stopped and turned around.

"This has gone on for far too long," Shikamaru said as he jumped down of the building ", I'm gonna finish this now."

"It's no use, Shikamaru. In the next couple of minutes, that poison that you feel will have made it to your heart and you will struggle to even pump blood." Kabuto said maniacally.

"That doesn't matter to me. By then, you'll be dead anyways. If you haven't noticed I have the advantage." Shikamaru said grabbing his shoulder.

Kabuto looked around, but didn't quite understand. "If you're talking about your trench knife piercing my shadow, it didn't work. You missed." Kabuto laughed triumphantly.

Shikamaru simply shook his head. "Think again." Shikamaru said solemnly. Suddenly, Kabuto looked up and saw the kunai with the seal attached to it that Shikamaru had thrown earlier. On it, was the symbol for shine. The seal almost instantly activated, and a bright white blinding light shined. The light lasted for about three seconds, but that was all Shikamaru needed. When Kabuto looked down again, he saw that his shadow was pinned to the ground.

"You dumb ass. I used the light from the seal to stretch your shadow in the opposite direction, thereby pinning it." Shikamaru explained. Shikamaru then pointed down and Kabuto saw that the other trench knife was pinning down Shikamaru's shadow. He soon found out why.

Shikamaru made a couple of hand signs and stared at Kabuto. "Shadow Jump." Shikamaru said simply. Shikamaru submerged into his own shadow, and emerged where Kabuto's shadow was. He placed two explosive tags in Kabuto's mouth and then quickly retrieved his knife. Shikamaru grabbed the other knife and braced himself. There was a moment of absolutely no sound, not even from the burning Konoha Prison. Then, there was a small pop followed by an enormous explosion.

Shikamaru sighed and sat down when the smoke filled the area. "Finally, I was just ran out of chakra. There's no way that bastard survived that." Shikamaru said to himself. However, when the smoke cleared, Shikamaru was filled with a kind of disgusting fear. Kabuto had taken on the grotesque form of a large half man-half cobra. Kabuto looked at Shikamaru with an immense amount of evil in his eyes and was about to attack. But out of the blue, Lady Tsunade and Hoheto appeared.

"Hoheto, take Shikamaru to a safe place. No questions asked." Tsunade commanded calmly. Hoheto grabbed Shikamaru and proceeded to do as he was commanded.

"Sso Lady Tssunade, you've come to facsse your death? For that, iss what liess ahead of you if you get in my way." Kabuto slithered.

Tsunade calmly looked Kabuto in the eyes. "This is the end of the line Kabuto. You will not be allowed to terrorize my loved ones anymore!" Tsunade yelled as she suddenly became serious.


	21. Tsunade's Last Stand

Tsunade clenched her fists and gazed into the eyes of the demonic Kabuto. Kabuto was covered in black and silver scales, and his legs had seemingly been traded in for a long serpentine tail. His face and appearance barely even resembled that of a human being anymore. His eyes were an eerily glowing gold color, and his tongue was forked. His hands had been replaced by lizard-like claws, his head was surrounded by a hood of skin. He had completely taken the persona of a snake, his tail was a snake itself. Just looking at him gave Tsunade the chills, but she shook it off and mentally readied herself for what had to be done.

Kabuto made the first move. He darted forward and held out his right palm. The claws on his fingers extended further outward. Tsunade didn't even flinch. She jumped into the air to avoid the frontal attack and bit her thumb. "_Summoning Jutsu!_" She called out. An enormous yellow slug appeared and seemingly slammed on top of Kabuto.

"Princess Tsunade! It has been many years since I last saw you. The fact that I have been summoned to this place must mean that you are in some sort of trouble. Am I correct?" The large yellow slug asked in a calm tone.

"Ne'neki, my enemy is a threat to all mankind. You see all of this destruction? It was caused by him. He has threatened and damaged that which means the most to me; my village. Please lend me your strength so that I may eradicate this evil from the world." Tsunade spoke nobly.

The enormous goldenrod slug, whom was larger than Katsuyu, nodded his head as tears streamed down his face. "I will gvie all my strength to protect that which is precious to you, Princess!" Ne'neki proclaimed.

As if to answer this proclamation, the ground began to shake and rumble. Then a large cobra-like creature emerged from the ground and faced Ne'neki and Tsunade. Tsunade looked over and saw Kabuto resting on the head of this beast. "This has gone on for far too long. I'm ending this now!" Kabuto hissed angrily.

"That's funny. We were thinking the exact same thing! Ne'neki now!" Tsunade said. Ne'neki coughed up a large amount of a watery substance onto the cobra-like beast and launched Tsunade into the air. As Tsunade began to come down she aimed herself at Kabuto.

"_Lightning Style: Defribulation Jutsu!_" Tsunade yelled. She completed the hand signs and put her fists together. When she came close to Kabuto, she seperated her fists and a current of electricity was flowing in-between them. Kabuto swiftly moved out of harm's way and his summoning received the brunt of the attack instead. The snake was electrocuted for a few seconds, but then it disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Launch me again, Ne'neki!" Tsunade commanded.

"As you wish, Princess!" Ne'neki replied. Tsunade climbed back onto Ne'neki and he launched her into the air again. However this time, Ne'neki split himself into hundreds of smaller versions of himself and formed a circle around Kabuto. "_Mucus Adhesive!" _Ne'neki yelled together. All of the smaler versions of Ne'neki coughed up a thicker, stickier fluid onto Kabuto.

When Kabuto tried to get the slime off of him, he noticed that he was stuck to his place. At that moment, he looked up and realized what was going on. Tsunade was falling from the sky at a very high speed coming right for Kabuto. She had poured a large amount of chakra in her fist. "I'm going to actually die, if I don't get out of this mess." Kabuto thought to himself. As Tsunade approached him, Kabuto opened his mouth grotesquely wide, and climbed out of his old skin. He quickly got to what he thought was a safe distance before Tsunade made impact.

When she did make impact with the ground, the backlash of all her strength was incredible. She completely shattered the ground in the remote area where they were fighting, and all the versions of Ne'neki were destroyed. A shockwave went through the entire village, waking those that weren't already awake and shattering the glass in windows. The shockwave could even be felt several miles away from the village where Team Ebisu was.

"Did you guys feel that?" Moegi asked with a hint of fear.

"Yeah, and I can see billows of smoke rising from the village. Something is definitely going down over there." Konohamaru replied.

"We need to hurry and get back as fast as possible. It could be the difference between life and death for many." Ebisu insisted.

Udon stopped right in his place as Ebisu said this. "_Summoning Jutsu!_" Udon called after biting his thumb and making the hand signs. He summoned a large owl, considerably larger than Suterusu, and looked at the rest of his squad. "We will get there sooner, if we fly." He stated matter-of-factly.

Back in the village, Tsunade stood up and looked at the damage she had caused. "There is no way he was able to escape from that unscathed." Tsunade muttered to herself.

When she said this, she saw a hand shoot out of the rubble a few meters from her. A human hand. The hand continued into an arm, a shoulder, and finally Kabuto's head. When it got to his head he reached his other arm out and pulled himself out of the shattered earth. He wore a pair of tattered and ripped pants. He was hanging his head and looked dejected. But, Tsunade could tell that something wasn't right with him. Blood was beginning to stream down his face, and when it did he licked it off his lips and giggled. He made an awful slurping noise and then looked up at Tsunade.

To Tsunade's horror, it was Kabuto's eyes bleeding. But, it wasn't just like a single vessel, or a few. No, the entirety of his eyes were dripping dark crimson blood. "Quite frightening, isn't it? It seems to be a drawback of using my new found power." Kabuto said with a gleeful giggle. When he finished saying this, the snake that was attached to his back as a tail, rose above his head. To Tsunade's dismay, the head on the snake was a monstrous and deformed version of Orochimaru's. It's eyes were also dripping with blood.

Tsunade let out a roar of anger and rocketed forward in an attempt to strike Kabuto. However, she caught a direct gaze from Orochimaru's eyes and froze in her place. "_Chakra Scalpel!_" Kabuto exclaimed. He struck the statue-like Tsunade in the stomach and she fell to the ground. After she was down for a moment, she began to choke on her own blood. However, she was still petrified and couldn't move. The mouth on Orochimaru's head opened and a large, white serpent slithered out. The serpent slithered up to Tsunade and made a sickly noise as it bit into her neck.

"This really is the end for you, Tsunade. No matter how well you are able to counteract poisons and injuries with your medical prowess, it is of no use. The poison will quickly reach your heart, and you will be dead within two minutes." Kabuto stated, seeming to weep blood tears. Tsunade looked up at the night sky being illuminated by the burning of the prison. She rolled her eyes over to see many villagers and shinobi that were watching from afar. She felt that she had failed them all and she began to shed tears.

"I knew this would eventually happen. But, I acted as if I were strong enough to defend them all. What a fool I have been to lead them on like this!" Tsunade thought to her self as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Then, out of the corner of her eyes she saw a nearly blinding light. She looked over again and saw the sun rising. She stared for a moment and that was all she needed to inspire her.

The seal on her forhead began to glow. She slowly got to her feet and marks began to spread around her face. "_Creation Rebirth!_" she called out. The wounds to her stomach began to heal and she glared at Kabuto. Without a word she pulled a scroll out of her back pocket. On the scroll was the crest of the Senju clan. She opened the scroll and there was a very intricate seal.

Kabuto sneered at Tsunade. "How cute. One final act from the princess before she dies."

Tsunade ignored this and placed the scroll on the ground. She began a process of many hand seals and then stopped on an unidentified seal. "_Forbidden Senju Seal: Garden of Eden!_" Tsunade called out. The seal glowed and spread over a wide area. However, as far as Kabuto could see, nothing had happened.

"So that was it? You're big finale? You've done nothing!" Kabuto jeered. Tsunade said nothing and just stared at him. "That's fine to be embarassed, I would be too. However, despite your embarassment, it will all be over soon anyways." Kabuto said with a laugh.

Kabuto tried to walk away, but an enormous tree sprouted up in his way. "No matter what happens to myself, The Will of Fire will be passed on!" Tsunade finally said.

Team Ebisu had finally made it to the village after flying on one of Udon's owls.

"Look at all this chaos and destruction!" Ebisu exclaimed.

"This is unbelievable!" Moegi cried.

"Somebody will pay for this!" Konohamaru yelled in anger.

"Look down there! It's Lady Tsunade!" Udon said.

They landed at a safe distance with other shinobi and watched from afar. "Who is it that has caused all of this?" Ebisu asked. No one could give an answer to the question. Suddenly, there was a low grumble.

Shikamaru was lying on the ground and he struggled to look at Ebisu. "It was Kabuto Yakushi who did this. Orochimaru's former partner." Shikamaru said. When he said this everyone became very quiet and could only watch the fight.

Tsunade looked at Kabuto and her vision was starting to fade. "I don't have much time left." Tsunade thought to her self. She clenched her fist and the enormous tree attacked Kabuto. He tried to duck and dodge the attacks, however, Tsunade forced more trees to sprout up until finally Kabuto was immobilized.

Then Tsunade formed a single seal and her eyes began to glow. "_Hidden Sacred Senju Technique: Flaming Cherubim!" _Tsunade called out with a booming voice. A beam of light shot from her chest and seven spirits covered with yellow flames surrounded her. Kabuto tried the best he could to get out of his prison formed of tree branches, but to no avail. Tsunade pointed one finger and the seven spirits attacked.

Kabuto screamed in agony as the spirits burned him alive. It was like being tossed into one of the pits of hell and he was forced to relive it seven times. By the time it was done, Kabuto was barely recognizable anymore. All his hair had been singed off, and even his flesh had been burned. Patches of burnt skin were hanging off of his face, back and head. The trees relinquished him and he fell to the ground. Then, the seal wore off and the trees disappeared with the seal.

Tsunade fell to her knees and then on her face. She had just enough life left to look Kabuto in the eyes and smile. But, not in a victorious way. It was a sort of comforting and serene smile. Kabuto didn't speak and only looked at her as a snake's mouth emerged from the ground. He crawled into it and then disappeared again.

All the shinobi watching the battle cheered, but Udon and Konohamaru rushed down to her. They rolled her over and felt for her pulse, but there was none.

Konohamaru turned to the cheering crowd with tears in his eyes. "Stop cheering, you idiots! Lady Tsunade's dead!"


	22. The Substitute

The next day, a funeral was held for Lady Tsunade. Everyone in the village attended, even people that weren't generally on good terms with Tsunade. Everyone in attendance cried that day, and not even the most hardened ninja could resist the tears. Despite this being a very sad day, it was actually a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping. It was almost as if Lady Tsunade was smiling down on the village. Many people also brought flowers to throw in with her casket.

During the funeral, the people who were closest to Tsunade made speeches. Sakura was able to get through her speech without breaking down, however Shizune barely uttered the first word of her speech before she erupted into tears. It was very painful to watch her cry, and many of the attendants turned their heads or closed their eyes. Shizune was finally escorted away, and the funeral quickly came to an end. It was very sad indeed.

After the funeral, Moegi attempted to cheer up the rest of Team Ebisu. "Hey, what do you guys say to some Ichiraku Ramen? It'll be my treat!" Moegi said with a comforting smile. But her smile was met by scowls and frowns.

"Sorry, Moegi, I..I just can't right now." Konohamaru answered while shaking his head. He began to walk home quietly.

"I also feel that it would be inappropriate to do so right now." Udon contributed as he walked off in the opposite direction.

Moegi put on a sad face and then turned to Ebisu. "What about you Ebisu sensei? You'll go with me won't you?" Moegi asked as she made puppy dog eyes.

"I'm sorry Moegi, but I'm afraid I am also unable to go with you at this time. I have a meeting to attend to." Ebisu replied sternly and walked away. Moegi was left standing there and so she just hung her head and began to walk home.

Later on, at the meeting that Ebisu spoke of, there was much bickering and arguing. Usually, the next choice for Hokage was discussed with a select few ninja and the Fire Daimyo. However, the Fire Daimyo had also been killed, so there was much confusion.

"How are we supposed to all of a sudden decide who will become Hokage? This is a process that takes much thought, and a higher authority than just a council of all the Jonin in the village. I think we should wait until a new Daimyo is elected, so that they may make the decision." Somebody said loudly. There were many ninja who shouted and yelled in agreement to this.

"The election of a Daimyo could take even longer. It isn't as if we could just ask another Daimyo from another country, because they have no jurisdiction in our country. Besides, there is an imminent threat now that both our Daimyo and Hokage are dead, rest their souls. This puts us in a very vulnerable position. It isn't definite, but there is a high chance of one of our enemy countries taking this as a chance to attack us." Another said. There was just about the same amount of yelling and hollering in agreement to the counterargument.

Finally, Kakashi stood up and quieted everyone. "Both sides are right in a sense. We should wait for a Daimyo to appoint someone as Hokage, but we don't have the time to wait for a Daimyo to be elected. And, we definitely are in danger of being caught off guard. However, I have a temporary solution to this problem. Shikaku Nara, whom is currently the head of the Nara clan and leader of our military operations, should be voted as Fill-in Hokage. Just until, a Daimyo can make the actual decision." Kakashi then sat down.

After he said this, there was a quiet buzz throught the council from the ninja talking amongst each other. One of the elders then got up and prepared to speak. "That was a brilliant idea Kakashi. Everyone in favor of this, raise their hand." Homura commanded.

More than half of the ninja in the council shot their hand in the air. Homura and another elder counted the hands and added the numbers together. "Very good, for the time being, Shikaku Nara is our Hokage." Homura said. "Council dismissed."

People left quickly, but Shikaku stayed to talk with the elders. "If I am the Hokage for now, then we are going to need some ninja to go outside the village and stay on the lookout for any hostile forces." Shikakau ordered.

"Yes sir, we just need to fill out the paperwork and the process will start." Homura said respectfully.

Elsewhere, Konohamaru and Udon were having a talk. "I can not believe that bastard killed Lady Tsunade. I wish I could've stopped him." Udon said angrily.

"She sacrificed her life to protect us, but we wouldn't have been of much use anyways. That guy was ridiculously strong." Konohamaru shot back.

"Well, that's going to have to end. We can't always have others fight for us, because we're not strong enough. It's time for us to start training and getting much stronger. so that we can protect the village when our time comes." Udon calmly replied.

Konohamaru stared at him without a response and nodded his head in silence. "You're right, Udon. Starting tomorrow, we'll begin intense training to make ourselves stronger!" Konohamaru agreed.

"It's a deal." Udon said. He shook Konohamaru's hand and began heading home. Konohamaru was left where he was sitting and eventually Ebisu came around.

"Hello, Konohamaru. Look, I know this isn't the best of circumstances, but I have a gift for you that should cheer you up." Ebisu said with a smile.

Out of one of the pouches on his vest, Ebisu pulled a scroll with the Sarutobi crest on it. He handed it to Konohamaru and smiled. "Whoa, what is this?" Konohamaru asked anxiously.

"That's the Monkey Summoning Contract Scroll, an exclusive Sarutobi justu. The Third Hokage wanted you to have it as soon as you became a Chunin." Ebisu answered.

"That's awesome! Thanks so much, Ebisu! There's something I need to talk with you about though." Konohamaru said.

"Sure, what's going on?" Ebisu asked seemingly concerned.

"Udon and I think that we should all start rigorous training tomorrow, so that we can get much stronger." Konohamaru explained.

"Of course! That sounds like a genius plan. I'll inform Moegi, and you tell Udon that we will meet by the Training Field at 10 a.m." Ebisu said. Konohamaru nodded and they went their seperate ways.

All of Team Ebisu prepared for that night for the intense training that was about to begin the next day.


End file.
